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THE PROGRESSIVE UNFOLDING 
OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


JASPER A. HUFFMAN, D.D. 





THE PROGRESSIVE 
UNFOLDING OF THE 
MESSIANIC HOPE 


BY 
JASPER A. HUFFMAN, D.D. 


DEAN OF MARION COLLEGE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, 
MARION, INDIANA 


Author of “Redemption Completed,” “Old Testament 
Messages of the Christ,” “Job a World Example,” 
“Upper Room Messages,” etc. 


WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
Pror. CHARLES R. ERDMAN, D.D. 
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 


NEW wap YORK 


GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


Copyright, 1924, 
By George H. Doran Company 


THE PROGRESSIVE UNFOLDING OF 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 
oly ee 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


Dedicatory 


TO MY MANY STUDENTS AND FRIENDS 
WHO HAVE PONDERED WITH ME OVER THIS “HOPE”? 
IN THE PAST, AND WHO SHALL DO sO IN THE FUTURE, 


THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 





INTRODUCTION 


BY CHARLES R. Erpman, D.D. 


There is a deep significance in the statement of 
John, the inspired seer of Patmos, “the testimony 
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’; for, witness 
to the divine person and redeeming work of Christ, 
is the impelling motive, the inner meaning, the 
ultimate goal in all the prophetic utterance of the 
Old Testament and the New. In fact, it is said 
truly that the one unifying theme of all the sacred 
Scriptures is “Redemption through Jesus Christ in 
order to the establishment upon earth of the per- 
fected kingdom of God”. 

It is with certain pregnant predictions of the com- 
ing of the Redeemer and the future glories of His 
kingdom that this review of “The Progressive Un- 
folding of the Messianic Hope” is concerned. 

In his treatment of these great utterances, the 
author is guided by two familiar canons of Biblical 
interpretation, first, the progressive character of 
divine revelation, and second, the unfolding nature 
of prophetic perspective. 


According to the first, God revealed to His people 
vii 


Viil Introduction 


in shadowy, imperfect and symbolic forms, truth 
which, age after age, He enabled them to under- 
stand with ever-increasing clearness and fulness. 
Thus, for example, the doctrine of redemption can be 
traced from the cryptic promise in Eden, that the 
Seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent’s head, 
through the scene on Calvary, to the apocalyptic 
vision of the ultimate triumph of the “Lamb that 
was slain’’, | | 

According to the second, inspired prophecies often 
are given germinal and initial fulfilments, and then 
later fulfilments which are larger and more ex- 
haustive, and the former may be separated from 
the latter even by the lapse of centuries. The 
prophet sees on the horizon coming events which 
he describes in language applicable to more momen- 
tous events which ultimately appear on a more dis- 
tant horizon; or, if he sees both, then his perspective 
fs so foreshortened that in his description both 
pictures are blended into one. The prophets at 
times seemed to realise that there were wider im- 
plications in their statements than they themselves 
understood, as we read, for instance, of their 
“searching what or what manner of time the Spirit 
of Christ which was in them did signify when it 
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the 
glory that should follow”. 

These canons of intepretation the author applies 


Introduction ix 


to certain impressive predictions concerning Christ 
and His kingdom, selected from the Old and New 


Testaments. He shows how during all the passing 
centuries God kept alive in the hearts of His ancient 
people, by ever more definite promises, a hope of. 


the coming and the glorious kingdom of a Redeemer, » 


an “Anointed One’, a “Messiah”, a “Christ”; and 
further, how, when the Saviour had come and had 
been rejected by his people and had suffered and 
died and risen again, accomplishing his atoning 
work, he taught his followers, by his own repeated 
promises and by the predictions of his apostles, to 
look for his return in power and great glory and 
for the perfecting of His kingdom upon earth. Thus 
the author shows that while the hope of a coming 
Christ was cherished by Israel of old, a similar 


hope based on ever more definite predictions, inspires | 


and cheers the church of the present day. 

Not all of his readers will agree with the inter- 
pretations placed by the author upon some of these 
passages. Many divergencies of opinion will emerge 
in reviewing what he has said touching the thorny 
theme of the “Millennium”. However, none will 
fail to be impressed with his irenic spirit and his 
seriousness of purpose; and all will surely agree, 
that, while we are left ignorant as to the times 
and processes, the “Messianic Hope’, the hope of 
the perfected kingdom of Christ, is the only hope 


x Introduction 


of the world. Surely the times are such as to de- 
mand the reviewing and cherishing of this hope. 
Amidst the wars and earthquakes and the distress 
of nations, we do well to ponder the predictions 
of our Lord’s return; and Christians of all schools 
of thought should welcome a book which turns their 
attention to the ‘‘Messianic Hope”, and enables them 
to unite with more of faith and fervour in the last 
prayer of the apostles : “Even so, come, Lord Jesus’. 


Gi Reet 
Princeton, New Jersey. 


FOREWORD 


For some years the author has pursued his study 
of the Word of God with a growing conviction, 
that between certain extreme views touching the 
Messianic programme there was a happy medium, 
which would eliminate a part and retain some 
of each. This has been the case in all great con- 
troversies, 

Then, too, he has been convinced, that a unity and 
progress characterised the revelation of God which 
finally culminated in the spelling out of Himself to 
the world in the person of Jesus Christ; that God 
revealed Himself in His great purpose as rapidly 
as the human family was ready to receive that rev- 
elation; that the measuring stick with which He 
measured men was consistent with the light of the 
day in which they lived, and that with increasing 
light came new responsibility. 

To him it has appeared very clear, that Jesus 
Christ came into the world with a definite Messianic 
programme; that He never groped in darkness or 
uncertainty, but carried out to the letter that part 
of the Messianic programme which He came to ful- 
fill; that the Word of God portrayed faithfully both 


Xl 


Xl Foreword 


that part of the redemptive work which Christ came 
to accomplish and any subsequent items in that. 
great plan. 

In the preparation of this Latte the author 
acknowledges his indebtedness to a number of others. 
Where quotations or citations are made, credit is 
given, either in footnotes or in the text. Special 
obligation is here acknowledged to Prof. Chas. R. 
Erdman, D.D., Prof. Geo. L. Robinson, D.D., Rev. 
W. B. Riley, D.D. and Rev. J. C. Massee, D.D., all 
of whom have read the manuscript, several of 
whom have made valuable suggestions which have 
been incorporated in the treatment. 

The American Standard version of the Scriptures 
is quoted throughout. 

These studies were not originally Sead for 
publication, but for lecture work, both in the class 
room and popular gatherings. There has been a 
persistent, growing demand, however, for their 
publication, and the author hereby accedes to the 
demand, trusting that he may be of help to others 
in a like quest for the truth of God as it is in 
Christ Jesus. 

La? oye oe BS 


Marion, Indiana. 


CHAPTER 


I 


II 


viii 


xI 


XII 


CONTENTS 


THE HOPE INTRODUCED. . ° . ° 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE IN THE PSALMS ° 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE IN THE PROPHECIES 


MESSIANIC EXPECTATION OUTSIDE OF JU- 
TP et NP ir cS Age Lh eka eae le Meh e 


THE MESSIANISM OF THE JEWS. . ° 
THE MESSIANISM OF JOHN THE BAPTIST . 


CONTENT OF THE MESSIANIC SELF- 
CONSCIOUSNESS ° . ° e ° ° 


THE COLLAPSE OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


‘THE APOSTLES IN THE SCHOOL OF TRANSI- 


TION . ° ° . e ° ° ° ° 


THE APOSTLES STILL IN THE SCHOOL OF 
TRANSITION . . ° . : ° ° 


A REVIVED AND CLARIFIED MESSIANIC HOPE 


OTHER STAGES IN THE MESSIANIC PRO- 


GRAMME a e ° . e e ‘e e 


PAGS 


17 
42 
56 


81 
88 
95 


108 
115 


122 


137 
150 


159 





THE PROGRESSIVE UNFOLDING 
OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


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THE PROGRESSIVE ‘UNFOLDING 
OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


CHAPTER I 


THE HOPE INTRODUCED 


For us who are the heirs of nineteen centuries 
of accumulated light and blessing which came as 
a result of the historic Christ, it is not easy to 
realise that things were not always as they now are. 
But a careful survey of the subject discloses the 
fact, that God was a long time in getting the world 
ready for the sending of His Son. During the 
cexituries preceding Christ’s coming, God gave to 
men, through the prophets, a progressive revelation 
of Him who was to come, and the nature of the 
work which He was to accomplish. 

This revelation began with a significant utter- 
ance, a somewhat veiled prophecy and promise (Gen. 
3:15), called by Old Testament scholars, the Pro- 
te’”’-van-gél-i-um, which contained all subsequent 
Messianic prophecy as in a germ. It continued to 
unfold and enlarge until it burst forth in the historic 


Christ, who was God spelled out to the world. 
17 


18 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


The term “Messiah” is a Jewish one, derived from 
the Hebrew verb Mashach, meaning to anoint. The 
“Messiah” then means the anointed one. While this 
term did not come to be generally employed by the 
Jews until later Old Testament times, the first 1n- 
stance being that of Daniel 9:25, there were other 
terms and expressions used which are as unmis- 
takable in their meaning. The New Testament 
‘ynonym for the Hebrew “Messiah” is the Greek 

hyistos, also meaning anointed, which has been 

ansliterated into the English word Christ. 

Herein lies our pleasant task—the tracing of the 

iessianic hope as it was progressivly unfolded to 
ihe world, noting its origin, enlargement and re- 
alisation. There are certain aspects of the Messianic 
hope which are yet future and will remain matters 
of prophecy until “hope” has given place to a full 
and glorious fruition of all that was included in the 
Messianic mission. 

At this early stage of our study, it will assist in 
a fuller appreciation of the progressive unfolding of 
the Messianic hope, to realise that God’s require- 
ments of men were always consistent with the light 
of the age in which they lived. Noah was a “‘per- 
fect’? man “in his generations”, but the moral meas- 
uring stick with which God measured men in Noah’s 
day is not the one with which He measures men 
today, because God’s revelation of Himself in Noah’s » 


The Hope Introduced 19 


day was but dim, compared to the revelation which 
He has made of Himself in the historic Christ. 

God’s moral measuring stick is a sliding scale, ad- 
justable to the moral measurements of men, in keep- 
ing with the light of the day in which they live. 
The length of this measuring rod has been gradually 
increasing from the beginning of revelation. An 
illustration of the fact that God sets new standards 
for periods of greater light is found in the fact 
that Christ, as is recorded in one chapter (Matt. 5), 
repudiates six well-recognised standards for Old 
Testament conduct, and replaces them with higher 
standards. A recognition of this fact will not only 
assist in the study of Messianism, but will also 
aid in the answering of the question, why God per- 
mitted and even sanctioned certain things in the old 
dispensation which are condemned by both the letter 
and the spirit of the new dispensation. 

In the setting of this higher standard, Jesus did 
not contradict nor amend the law of Moses, but re- 
vealed all that this law contained. Formerly it had 
been regarded as applying to external things, or 
certain acts. Jesus showed that the law referred 
to certain motives and thoughts, as well as deeds. 

It is no new doctrine which is being advocated 
when the progressive unfolding of God’s plan and 
purpose is pointed out. This fact is acknowledged 


20 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


by many of the world’s greatest scholars, even 
though they differ in their understanding of details.: 

A. B. Davidson insists, that though prophecy 
varies, it is directed to one general design and says: 
“In Paradise, it gave the first hope of a Redeemer. 
After the deluge, it established the peace of the nat- 
ural world. In Abraham it founded the double 
covenant of Canaan and the Gospel. In the age of 
the law, it spoke of the second prophet, and fore- 
shadowed in types, the Christian doctrine, but 
foretold most largely the future fate of the selected 
people, who were placed under that preparatory 
dispensation. In the time of David, it revealed the 
Gospel Kingdom, with the promise of the temporal. 
In the days of the later prophets, it presignified the 
changes of the Mosaic covenant, embraced the his- 
tory of the chief pagan kingdoms, and completed 
the annunciation of the Messiah and His work of 
redemption. After the captivity, it gave a last and 
more urgent information of the approaching advent 
of the Gospel.” 7 

Patrick Fairbairn describes the beginning and in- 
crease of prophecy in these picturesque words: “It 
appears somewhat like a river, small in its begin- 
nings, and though still proceeding, yet often losing 
itself for ages under ground, then bursting forth 
anew with increased volume, and at last rising into _ 


*“Discourses on Prophecy,” pp. 355, 356. 


The Hope Introduced 21 


a swollen stream—greatest by far when it has come 
within prospect of its termination.” ? 

A modern writer contributes a helpful word to 
the subject of a progressive revelation when he says: 
“The trouble with much that we see and hear about 
development and progressive revelation is that it 
seems to assume that if revelation was a progress, 
therefore it must be historically untrue and un- 
reliable. God did not tell Moses all that He had to 
reveal, therefore what Moses was told is not true or 
reliable. We have a fuller revelation in the Prophets 
and in Christ, therefore what was known before 
is not true. That is a Hegelian fallacy which has 
vitiated much of recent thinking on the subject of 
progress and is like saying that the acorn is not true 
and cannot be depended upon because later it develops 
into an oak. The acorn is not the whole story, but it 
is the story as far as it has been developed, and it 
is just as true and reliable as the oak. The oak 
does not contradict the acorn—it only declares its 
final meanings and possibilities. John does not con- 
‘tradict Moses, but unveils the final meanings and 
matchless issues of the revelation made to Moses. 
The development of the Bible and Christianity, which 
after all is the fundamental principle of progress in 
the world and history, is not a changing which re- 
sults from the experiments and blunders of men 


“Prophecy,” p. 33. 


22 Progressive Unfolding of Messianc Hope 


who are feeling their way in the dark and have to 
change because they were mistaken, but the chang-. 
ing which is the natural result of an unfolding life 
and programme that are in no way uncertain as to 
their final issues. Christianity and the Bible are the 
progress of a divine programme, and men’s pro- 
grammes and activities are truly progressive only as 
they are in line with and are the expression of this 
divine programme. Much that is being written and 
said in our day about a static religion and revelation 
is nothing but the dust of a tragic misunderstanding 
or wilful ignorance on the part of men who ought 
to know better.” 3 

Says Milton S. Terry: “The Messianic hope, 
. first uttered in the garden of Eden (Gen.. 3:15), 
was a fountain-head from which a gradually in- 
creasing stream went forth, receiving constant ac- 
cessions as prophet after prophet arose commis- 
sioned to utter some clearer oracle. In a general 
way, at least, each new prophet added to the work 
of his predecessors.”’ 4 

James Orr, in the closing chapter of his volume, 
“The Problem of the Old Testament,” treats the sub- 
ject of progressive revelation at length. Among 
other things he says: ‘Progressive revelation cul- 
minates in Christ. In Christ the long development 


*John MacInnis, “King’s Business,” June, 1923, p. 690. 
*“Biblical Hermeneutics,” p. 442. 


The Hope Introduced 23 


of Old Testament religion—Abrahamic promise, 
Mosaic covenant, Levitical sacrifice, Davidic king- 
ship, prophetic hopes, Messianic ideals, strain of 
Psalmist, redemptive purpose—finds its fulfilment 
and point of repose. His person clasps Old and 
New Testament into one. To understand the Old 
‘Testament aright we must look to this goal to which 
all its roads lead.” ® 

The supreme authority upon the subject of a 
progressive revelation is the Bible itself. Here we 
read: “God, having of old time spoken unto the 
fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in 
divers (or diverse) manners, hath at the end of 
these days (the time of the consummation of the 
process of revelation) spoken unto us in His Son, 
whom He appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 
I:1-2). Revelation is then seen to be a progressive 
movement, culminating in Jesus Christ, who is God’s 
final “word.” This is the supreme revelation, and 
we have no intimation that God intends to give the 
world any further revelation. What remains to be 
achieved, is to discover what Christ is and means to 
the world. Truth, itself, is not progressive, but 
eternal: it is the revealing of it that is progressive. 
God revealed Himself to the world as rapidly as the 
world was ready for the revelation. 

*“Problem of the Old Testament,” p. 477. 


24 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


ORIGIN OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


om RA 
nto fe 


The earliest chapter in human history is closed 
by a sudden interruption caused by sin. So violent 
was this interruption, that the beautiful picture of 
creation with its peace, fellowship and bliss was 
supplanted by one of threatening, fear and sorrow. 
A curse upon the man, the woman and the ground 1s 
the fearful and discouraging result of the fact of 
sin. This picture, however, is not the only one. 
Nowhere does God paint a black picture because of 
sin, without painting alongside of it a brighter one, 
which may be realised, by grace, in its stead. ‘The 
curse did not stop with the man, the woman and 
the ground; but it was turned upon the agent of 
sin—Satan, and a significant Messianic prophecy 
was uttered. To the serpent, the agent of Satan, 
God said: “And I will put enmity between thee and 
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: 
he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
heel” (Gen. 3:15). Here the prophecy of a deliverer 
is unmistakably uttered. Even a temporary bruise, 
that of the heel, suggesting the apparent, momen- 
tary defeat of the deliverer is predicted: but, at the 
same time, the deliverer’s ultimate and final triumph 
is prophesied, in his bruising of the serpent’s head, 
which means a fatal blow. Three things stand out © 


The Hope Introduced 25 


in this early but significant prophecy: The deliverer 
was to be: 

1. Of the seed of the woman, meaning her pos- 

terity. 

2. Temporarily hindered. 

3. Finally victorious. 

Sin, from the moment it entered into the world 
in the form of disobedience, has wrought havoc and 
ruin. Its destructive work can be catalogued as 
follows : 

1. It robbed man of the moral image of His 

Creator with which he was stamped in creation. 

2. It robbed man of his communion and fellow- 

ship with God. 

3. It brought a blight or curse upon man’s heri- 

tage, the earth. 

4. It brought death as God had previously warned 

(Gen. 2:17). 

If these are truly the effects of sin, as they cer- 
tainly are, then a deliverer must necessarily undo 
these, if he be a deliverer at all. The work, then, 
of a deliverer is as follows: 

1. It must restore to man the Creator’s moral 

image. 

2. To restore to man communion and fellowship 

with God. 

3. To remove the blight or curse from man’s 

heritage. 


26 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


4. To conquer death in behalf of mankind. 

From the nature of the curse and the work of 
the deliverer, we see that his work is not merely 
within the realm of spiritual things, but within the 
realms of both spiritual and material things. From 
this brief but graphic description of the consequences 
of sin and this earliest promise or prophecy which 
gave rise to a Messianic hope, we are able to fore- 
cast, with considerable accuracy, the necessary Mes- 
sianic accomplishments. The maximum of the 
results of sin must mark the minimum of the work 
of the Redeemer. 


FURTHER DELINEATION IN THE PENTATEUCH 


In those earlier books of the Bible called the 
Pentateuch, considerable progress is made in the 
sketching of the Messianic hope. Besides the sin- 
gle verse which has just been pointed out (Gen. 
3:15) and which must always be considered by 
Bible students as the original word upon the sub- 
ject of Messianism, there are several passages which 
register progress in the revelation which God was 
making to His people concerning His intentions. 

Of Semitic Stock. Of the three sons of Noah, 
Shem, Ham and Japheth, God selected Shem as the 
one from whose line religious hope was to spring. 
The intimation is given in Noah’s blessings upon , 
his sons: 


The Hope Introduced 27 


“Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem; 
And let Canaan be his servant. 
God enlarge Japheth, 
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; 
And let Canaan be his servant.” 
—Gen. 9:26. 


Here Ham is appointed, in the person of his son 
Canaan, to slavery. Japheth is made heir to wide 
prosperity. Shem is given pre-eminence in religion, 
which blessing is to be shared with his brethren. 

A Son of Abraham. It was to Abraham, the son 
of Terah, a descendent of Shem, that God gave a 
peculiar promise, one which could not be omitted 
in any serious effort to trace the Messianic hope: 

“And Jehovah said to Abram, Get thee out of 
thy country (Mesopotamia), and from thy kin- 
dred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land 
that I will show thee. And I will make of thee 
a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make 
thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I 
will bless them that bless thee, and him that 
curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the 


families of the earth be blessed.” 
—Gen, 12: 1-3. 


There were at least three distinct things in this 
communication of God to Abraham: 
He was to become a great nation. 
He was to have a great name. 
He was to be made a great blessing—to all 
the families of the earth. 


28 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


It is the last item which stands out distinctly as 
Messianic. This promise is referred to in Gen.. 
18:18; is repeated in Gen. 22:18, where it is coupled | 
with the promise of a posterity as the stars of 
heaven, and as the sands of the sea in number; 
also repeated in Gen. 26:4, in connection with the 
promise of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants, and 
in each instance is unmistakably Messianic. The 
Psalmist predicts the fulfilment of the promise in 
the Messiah, probably typified by Solomon (Psalm 
72:17); Peter so interpreted it in his Pentecostal 
sermon (Acts 3:25), and Paul argues Messianism 
from it (Galatians 3:8). | 

Judah’s Descendant. Tracing the line of Abra- 
ham to Jacob, when the twelve sons were to be- 
come the heads of respective families of Israel, 
either one of which might stand at the head of the 
ancestral line of Him in whom all the families of the 
earth were to be blessed, God saw fit to point out 
in the bestowing of the Patriarchal blessing, the 
particular line in which He would come: It was 
Judah’s line: 

“The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, 
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet 
Until Shiloh come. 

And unto him shall the obedience of the 


peoples be.” 
—Gen. 49:10. 


The Hope Introduced 29 


The word “Shiloh” is used only once in the 
Scriptures, descriptive of a person. Jews and 
Christians have always agreed that the reference is 
to the Messiah, although there have been various 
ways of explaining the verse. The word comes from 
a Hebrew verb, Shalah, meaning to be at rest or at 
peace, suggesting that when such a lawgiver comes 
there will be peace. This step in the unfolding of 
the Messianic hope discloses several distinct things : 

He is to be a descendant of Judah. 

He is to bea lawgiver, a sceptred one. 

His name is one significant of peace. 

He is to become the monitor of the na- 
tions (peoples). 

A Brilliant Ruler. Strange as it may seem, that 
God should speak by the mouth of a non-Israelitish 
prophet, God did use such an one to utter a beautiful 
Messianic prediction. Balaam of Aram, in Meso- 
potamia, who was a weak character, but who knew 
the true God, was employed by Balak, king of the 
Moabites, to curse Israel. Thrice had he attempted 
to curse Israel, but in each instance the intended 
curse proved to be a blessing. Finally yielding him- 
self to the operations of the Spirit of God, he spake 
these words : 


“There shall come a Star out of Jacob, 


And a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel 
* * * 2* 2 


30 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


And out of Jacob shall one have dominion, 
And shall destroy the remnant from the city.” 
—Num, 24: 17-19. 
This prediction had its fulfilment in David, who 
did according to the further items of the prophecy,— 
smite Moab and Edom; but it looked forward to 
“David’s greater Son.” From early times Jewish 
commentators have looked upon this as a Messianic 
prophecy, and Christians see in it a prediction of 
their Brilliant Ruler, the King of Kings. This ut- 
terance from the lips of a non-Jewish prophet may 
be looked upon as a forecast of the fact, that not 
only the Jewish, but Gentile world, as well, should 
some day recognise in this “Star” the world’s truly 
great and brilliant ruler. When “His star” did ap- 
pear, it led to the feet of the infant son of Jacob, 
wise men, representatives of the non-Jewish world, 
who did Him honour as the “sceptred one.” 


THE MESSIANIC HOPE IN THE INSTITUTIONS. 


Besides these word utterances, from the mouth 
of the Lord, Himself, and inspired men, the Pen- 
tateuch has an abundance of Messianic teaching in 
symbol and Institutions,* among which are the fol- 
lowing: 

The Sanctuary (Tabernacle). 
The Priesthood. 


° See the Author’s volume entitled “Old Testament Messages. 
of the Christ,” Chapters I-IV. 


The Hope Introduced 31 


The Sacrificial System. 
The Law. 

The Sanctuary with its apartments, its furnish- 
ings, even the materials with which it and its furni- 
ture were constructed, speaks a distinctly Messianic 
message. It was God’s redeeming presence in the 
world. 

The Priesthood, centering in the high priest, was 
an institution symbolising the Great High Priest 
who was to come. 

The Sacrificial System, with its various sacrifices, 
pointed as certainly to the redemptive work of the 
Coming One, as the needle of the compass points 
toward the north star. 

The Law was an objective measuring stick, which 
revealed to man God’s requirements of him, which 
he would never be able to meet unless some special 
dispensation of grace should be manifested. It was 
an institution with no outlook but upwards, whose 
only justification was the Messianic provision. 

Moses’ Successor.. A concluding Messianic pas- 
sage in the Pentateuch is that in which Moses prom- 
ised Israel a prophet like unto himself, unto whom 
they would hearken: 

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 


like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” 
—Deut. 18:15. 


32 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


It is evident to all Old Testament readers, that 
this prophet was Joshua, but it was Messianic in 
that it also pertained to Christ. So the passage was 
interpreted by Peter in Acts 3:22 and by Stephen 
in Acts 7: 37. | 

It should be noted that, in the Messianic prospect, 
already in the Pentateuch there is a mingling of 
royalty and priesthood, of glory and suffering. The 
idea of royalty and glory may be said to predom- 
inate in the spoken prophecy, while the idea of 
priesthood and suffering may be said to predominate © 
in the institutions. Here we find a combination 
of material and spiritual prospects, which, though 
perfectly consistent when properly understood, are 
very perplexing when confused. 

Summarising the development of the Messianism 
of the Pentateuch, we have the following: 

Of the Seed or Posterity of the Woman. 

Of Semitic Stock. 

A Son of Abraham. 

Judah’s Descendant. 

A Brilliant Ruler. 

One Whose Work was Typified by the 
Institutions. 

A Successor of Moses. 

Before going further, it would be well to check 
ourselves up to see whether we are proceeding in 
the right direction in our study. Is Messianism the 


The Hope Introduced 33 


subject of the Pentateuch, or is it to be found there 
only incidentally? While there is Hebrew history 
in the Pentateuch, it is there only because it is neces- 
sary to write Hebrew history in order that the story 
of redemption may be written. Occasionally other 
nations are cited in the narrative, but they are seen 
only as they come into contact with the chosen na- 
tion. The Old Testament does not purport to be 
a history of the race, but a recounting of the re- 
deeming work of God, and everything is made trib- 
utary to that. The sacred Historian subordinates 
everything to this all-occupying theme, and permits 
men, nations and things to appear only as they re- 
late to it. 

Christ gives us the answer to our question as to 
the subject of the Pentateuch. A word from His 
lips, properly understood, should be sufficient to 
settle the question as to the relation of these prophe- 
cies and institutions to the Messianic hope. 

There are two persons whose names stand out in 
this period very significantly: Abraham and 
Moses. Abraham was the father of the chosen 
nation, and Moses was the great deliverer and law- 
giver. Of Abraham Jesus said: “Abraham re- 
joiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad”’ 
(John 8:56). Of Moses He said: “He wrote of 
me” (John 5:46). While Jesus does not tell us at 
which one or more of the wonderful experiences 


34 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


that came into the life of Abraham he saw the Mes- 
siah, He certainly does make it plain, that this man 
of faith, the father of the nation chosen to be the 
conservators of a monotheistic faith and through 
whom the Messiah was to come, saw His day and 
rejoiced. It may have been when the promises were 
repeated to him, when the Jehovah angel visited him, 
or when, in his heart, he had sacrificed Isaac and the 
ram was provided as a substitution, but in some 
very real way, he saw the Messiah. Here we learn 
that the things concerning which Moses wrote were — 
of such a character, that in them he wrote of Christ. 
Whether of prophecy, history, institutions of sacri- 
fice and worship, or of the law, Moses wrote, it was 
of Christ, for they all point to and relate to Him. 

From the nature of the covenant which God made 
with Abraham, it is very natural that the deliverer 
would be looked for in the line of Abraham’s de- 
scendants. In the covenant, itself, blessing was 
promised to all nations, but this blessing was to be 
expected only in the line of Abraham. 


POST-PENTATEUCHAL REFERENCES 


There is at least one instance in the Historical 
Books, when history-making is punctuated with 
prophecy. It is where the prophet Nathan ap- 
peared to David, and announced to him some things 
which have a very direct bearing upon the form 


The Hope Introduced 35 


which the Messianic hope was to take. These are 
the significant words: 

“When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt 
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after 
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and 
IT will establish his kingdom. He shall build an 
house for my name, and I will establish the 
throne of thy kingdom forever. I will be his 
father, and he shall be my son: if he commit 
iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, 
and with the stripes of the children of men; but my 
mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from 
Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy 
house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever 
before thee; thy throne shall be established for 
ever.” 

—2 Sam. 7: 12-16. 


No matter what our theories of prophetic inter- 
pretation may be, there are two things which must 
be conceded from this prophecy. 

1. It has a direct reference to Solomon, for it 
was he who, as David’s son, builded a house 
to the name of Jehovah. 

2. It has reference to Christ, for Gabriel cites 
this promise of an eternal kingdom of David, 
to Mary, when he announced to her the 
birth of Jesus (Luke 1 :32, 33). 

3. A third thing, the chastening and bearing of 
stripes, may seem at first as inconsistent with 
royalty, but can be readily recognised as 
Messianic when we have combined the ideas 


86 Progressive Unfolding of Messiamc Hope 


of humility and glory, suffering and reign- 
ing, which must be done if we would come | 
to understand the subject. | , 

Dr. William A. Smith says, that David under- 
stood Nathan’s prophecy as Messianic, as is evi- 
denced by the prayer which he immediately offered, 
and the other Messianic sentiments to which he 
gave expression.* 

Besides this prophecy cited from 2 Samuel, there 
is another piece of Messianic literature which de- 
serves mention. Right in the midst of the historical 
books is found couched a beautiful and very won- 
derful little book; which is refreshing in its Mes- 
sianism. The Book of Ruth is, indeed, a most 
perfect piece of literature, a treatise on piety, a ro- 
mance of Providence with God’s hand to be seen 
at every turn in the narrative, but still more: it 
is the book of the Kinsman Redeemer. It tells the 
story of a worthy and willing near-kin (Hebrew, 
Goale), redeeming an unworthy but trustful and 
obedient dependent. While it is not to be insisted, 
that Ruth understood the Messianic type of which 
she was a central figure, the book must be under- 
stood as Messianic; Boaz, the Lord of the harvest, 
becoming the bridegroom of Ruth, the bride. Here, 
in type, is Christ and the church. To subtract this 
little book from the Bible would be to sustain a 

*“Old Testament History,” p. 438. ; 


The Hope Introduced 37 


distinct loss. Ata date so early as this, God caused 
to be put into type this mystical relationship be- 
tween Christ and the church. G. Campbell Mor- 
gan’s simple outline of the Book of Ruth, divides 
Meemiior thtees parts: 11. The, (Choice . of: Faith; 
2. The Venture of Faith. 3. The Reward of Faith.® 
This outline is appropriate, and in keeping with its 
Messianic interpretation. 

The post-Pentateuchal references add two more 
items to the summary of Messianic development 
up to this point in our study: 

He was to be a son of David, typified by 

Solomon. 
He was reflected in the Book of Ruth as the 
Kinsman Redeemer. 


OTHER SUGGESTED ORIGINS OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE 


Having noted the origin of the Messianic hope, 
and having traced it thus far in its historical and 
prophetic aspects, it is necessary that passing notice 
be given to some modern suggestions concerning 
the origin of the hope which we have been calling 
“Messianic.” 

There are those who insist upon an evolutionary 
theory of religion, and in keeping with such an idea 
they cast about for anything which will serve as a 
prop to support their hypothesis. As a result of 

‘“The Analysed Bible,” Vol. I, p. 115. | 


88 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


this, some unwarranted and well-nigh amusing con- 
clusions have been drawn. Instead of the miracu- 
ous element of the Old Testament’which introduces 
the Messianic hope and directs it at every 
turn, they profess to have discovered that the 
Hebrews derived the Messianic idea from some 
foreign source. The professed sources vary be- 
tween Babylonia, Egypt and even the Canaanites, 
in keeping with the prejudices of the advocates. | 

Perhaps the nearest approach to anything like a 
parallel to the Messianic literature of the Bible is 
found in the “Admonitions of Ipuwer,” an Egyp- 
tian document which dates possibly to 2000 B.C. | 
The Egyptian sage, called Ipuwer, describes the dis- 
tressed conditions of society, and expresses a long- 
ing for the presence of an ideal king. Some writers 
see in this a parallel to the prophetic conception of 
the Messiah. 

In the first place, the parallel, if any, is very weak. 
One could read the fragments which have been 
translated with difficulty into the English, and unless 
he had been previously instructed, or had a theory 
to support, he would scarcely be impressed with any 
likeness of the document to the definitely-expressed 
Messianic hope of the Old Testament. Speaking 
of Re, the first Egyptian God, the sage says: 


“Where is he today? Is he sleeping? Behold 
his might is not seen.” ; 


The Hope Introduced 39 


This line is possibly the nearest approach to any 
expression of a future hope, and it appears very 
far-fetched to draw any conclusion of a Messianic 
parallel from this line. The document, as a whole, 
constitutes a very weak argument in favor of the 
Hebrews having derived their Messianic hope from 
the Egyptians. 

Scholars are greatly disagreed in relation to their 
evaluation of the document. Barton cites Vogal- 
sang, Breasted and Gressman as among those who 
believe that there is, in some degree, a parallel be- 
tween it and the conception of the Messiah; but says 
that Gardiner “has objected that the parallelism is 
not real, in that there seems to have been in the mind 
of the Egyptian sage no expectation that such a 
king would actually arise, but rather the belief that 
he once existed as the god Re, and has now van- 
ished from the earth.” ® 

With Prof. Gardiner many eminent scholars 
agree. Whatever belief the orientals may have had 
of varying ages, their golden age lay behind them. 
This is likely the true interpretation of the “Ad- 
monitions of Ipuwer.” Prof. Knudson points out 
the fact, that the Oriental peoples had a belief in 
what he calls “world cycles.” Concerning these 
“world cycles” he says: “According to this belief, 
the world would pass through a certain course, 

°“Archeology and the Bible,” p. 422. 


40 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


would culminate in a great catastrophe, and then 
return to its previous condition, run the same course, | 
and end again in the same catastrophe. This was 
to continue indefinitely. There was to be no perma- 
nent progress. ... This conception was current 
among the Babylonians and Persians, is found in 
Greece and Rome, and appears in the ‘prophetic’ 
texts of the Egyptians. By way of contrast with 
it, the Messianic hope of the Hebrews introduced. 
the idea of development. When the great cataclysm | 
should come, there would be no reversion to the 
previous order of things. A new eternal kingdom 
of God would emerge.” 7° He further quotes A. C. 
Welch as saying: “‘Even Greek thought never broke 
away from the Eastern conception of the world 
cycles until it had been fertilised by the infusion 
of this Hebrew contribution.” 14 The fact is, that 
the so-called ‘“‘prophetic” texts of the Egyptians are 
not prophetic at all, but as Knudson says, were 
written to glorify the reigning monarch.” 4 

Apart from this particular document, there is 
scarcely anything among the literature of the an- 
cients which is worthy of mention. It is futile to 
search here for the origin of the Messianic hope. 
Nothing which has yet been discovered justifies 


* “The Religious Teaching of the Old Testament,” pp. 377, 


Bz0e4) 
LOM, Dici37 be 
* Tbid., Dp. 355. 


The Hope Introduced AY 


any expectation that there is anything to be found 
from which the Hebrews might have borrowed 
their idea of a coming Messiah. Neither is it neces- 
sary that this idea should have been borrowed; for 
it is in keeping with the very genius of this hope 
which so far transcends anything that is human, 
that it should have been given by revelation. 

The most critical of students are justified in pro- 
ceeding to trace the progress of the Messianic hope 
as revealed to Israel, without giving any further 
heed to suggestions of the origin of the Messianic 
hope from other sources. 


Cuarpter IT 


THE MESSIANIC HOPE IN THE 
PSALMS 


Basing our expectations upon the authority and 
unity of the Scriptures, assuming that they reflect 
the progress which God made in revealing His plan 
and purpose to His people, we would naturally ex- 
pect to find intimations, inferences and direct state- 
ments concerning the Messianic hope throughout 
the Scriptures. In this we are not disappointed, 
for the Messianic hope is referred to or implied, 
in one manner or another, at practically every turn. 

The examination of a few outstanding Psalms 
will indicate the nature of the Messianism to be 
found there. Perhaps more Messianism has been 
read into the Psalms than is really there, but there 
is much in them which is distinctly Messianic, and 
it is folly to ignore this fact. We should be dis- 
appointed, indeed, if this great collection of Psalms 
did not make a definite contribution to the unfold- 
ing Messianic hope of the Bible. But there is no 
occasion for disappointment, as will be seen when 
a number of Psalms have been examined. Surpris- | 


ing as it might seem to those who have never given 
42 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 48 


the subject a careful study, so freighted are the 
Psalms with Messianism, that a number of the out- 
standing events in Christ’s experiences are reflected 
there. 


THE PSALM OF BETRAYAL 
( Forty-first ) 


Unless the apostles, with Peter as their spokes- 
man, were mistaken in their interpretation of this 
Psalm when a successor to Judas was being elected 
(Acts 1:16), the betrayal of Jesus is portrayed 
here, 

“Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, 
which did eat of my bread, 

Hath lifted up his heel against me. 

But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon me and raise 
me up, 

That I may requite them. 

‘By this I know that thou delightest in me, 


‘Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” 
—Psalm 49:9-II. 


THE CRUCIFIXION PSALM 
(Twenty-second ) 


The fact cannot escape the casual reader, much 
less the student of the Word, that there is a relation 
of the twenty-second Psalm to the crucifixion. Here 
are the outstanding points of relationship: 


“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the 
words of my groaning?” 
—Verse i. 


44, Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


As will be seen from Matt. 27:45, 46 and Mark 
15:34, Jesus exclaimed these identical words, in ™ 
part, on the cross. 


“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: 
They shoot up the lip, they shake the head, saying, 
Commit thyself unto Jehovah; let him deliver him: 
Let him rescue him, seeing that he delighteth in him.” 
—Verses 7 and 8. 


The three synoptic writers relate the pathetic. 
scene of Christ on the cross, being upbraided by 
the passers-by and their priests. Here is Matthew’s 
version of it: 


“And they that passed by railed on him, wagging 
their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest 
the temple, and buildest it in three days, save 
thyself. If thou be the son of God, come down 
from the cross. In like manner also the chief 
priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, 
said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 
He is the King of Israel; let him now come down 
from the cross, and we will believe on him. He 
trusteth on God; let him deliver him now, if he 
desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” 
—Matt. 27: 39-43. 


The relationship between the two following Scrip- 
ture passages needs no comment. 


“They part my garments among them, 
And upon my vesture do they cast lots.” 
—Verse 18. 


John tells us how the soldiers divided the gar- 
ments of Jesus when they had crucified Him: 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 45 


“The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified 
Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts; 
to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now 
the coat was without seam, woven from the top 
throughout. They said therefore one to another, 
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it 
shall be.” —John 19: 23, 24. 

He then adds, that the conduct of the soldiers 
was a fulfilment of the Scripture—the one which 
we have just quoted (Psalm 22:18). 

THE RESURRECTION PSALM 
(Sixteenth ) 


There is at least one Psalm which can be char- 
acterised as a resurrection Psalm, although some 
are inclined to look upon it as pertaining to im- 
mortality, generally. The particular passages which 
touch the resurrection are as follows: 

“T have set Jehovah always before me: 

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: 
My flesh also shall dwell in safety, 

For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; 

Neither will thou suffer thy holy one to see corrup- 

tion.” 
—Verses 8-10. 

Peter, in the Pentecostal sermon, reviews the 
arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, 
and specifically states that David was speaking of 
Jesus when he uttered the above words (Acts 
2 :22-28). 


46 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


THE KING—PRIEST PSALM 
(One hundred and tenth) 


In this Psalm there is a specific setting forth of 
the high-priestly, as well the ney prerogatives of 
the Messiah. 


“Jehovah hath said unto my Lord, 
Sit thou at my right hand, 
Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 
Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out 
of Zion: 
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” 
—Verses 1 and 2. 


“Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent: 
Thou art a priest forever, 
After the order of Melchizedek.” } 
—Verse 4. 


The book of Hebrews, that wonderful New Tes- 
tament Commentary on Old Testament type and 
prophecy, thrice quotes the latter verse, interpreting 
it Messianically, arguing that the New Testament 
High Priest (Christ) is superior to the highest type 
of Old Testament high priest, the king-priest, Mel- 
chizedek (Heb. 5:6-10; 6:20). Note the predic- 
tion in this Psalm, of the priestly function of the 
expected Messiah (Anointed One). 

Christ also cites this Psalm as referring to Him- 


self, as recorded in Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36 and: . 


Luke 20:42, 43. 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 47 © 


KINGDOM PSALMS 
(Second) 


That the second Psalm is Messianic is proven by 
the reference made to it in the prayer of Peter and 
John, as recorded in Acts 4:23-28. The reference 
is made to the verses which read as follows: 


“Why do the nations rage, 

And the peoples meditate a vain thing? 

The kings of the earth set themselves, 

And the rulers take counsel together, 

Against the Lord and against his anointed.” 
—Verses 1 and 2. 


But the whole Psalm is Messianic, as the follow- 
ing verses and others can only be interpreted in 
this way: 

“Jehovah said unto me, thou art my son; 
This day have I begotten thee. 
Ask of me and I will give thee the nations 
for thine inheritance, 
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession.” 
—Verses 7 and 8. 

While the first coming of Christ has in a measure 
fulfilled this prophecy, it is evident that what has 
come to pass in the spiritual reign of Christ among 
men is but a foreshadowing of what is yet to be 
fulfilled when He reigns in power and glory. Some 
who fail to see the millennial aspect of this Psalm 
do not hesitate to concede to it a Messianic nature. 


48 Progressive Unfolding of Messianc Hope 


(Eighth) 


The eighth Psalm is very wonderful in its Mes- 
Sianic aspects: 


“What is man that thou art mindful of him? 
And the son of man that thou visitest him? | 
For thou hast made him but a little lower than 

God, 
And crownedst him with glory and honor. 
Thou makest him to have dominion over the 
works of thy hands; 
Thou hast put all things under his feet.” 
—Verses 4-6. 


There are three references in the New Testament 
which cite these words as Messianic. They are 
I. Cor. 15:24, 25; Eph. 1:22 and Hebrews 2:6-8. 
The latter reference, in particular, gives it not only 
a Messianic but possibly a millennial interpretation, 
as well, for it says: 

“Thou didst put all things in subjection under his 
feet. For in that he subjected all things unto 
him, he left nothing that is not subject unto him. 
But now we see not yet all things subject unto 
him. But we behold him who hath been made a - 
little lower than angels, even Jesus, because of 
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and 
honor, that by the grace of God he should taste 


of death for every man. 
—Hebrews 2:8, 9. 


The passage is certainly Messianic and its fulfil- 
ment reaches out into the enternal kingdom. — 
Trench, in his work entitled “After the Thousand 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 49 


Years,” gives the following interpretation to these 
verses from the eighth Psalm: (1) “Thou madest 
him a little lower than the angels’ refers to His 
incarnation and earthly life. (2) ‘Thou crownedst 
him with glory and honor” refers to His exaltation 
to the heaven where He sits at the right hand of 
God as man’s intercessor. (3) “Thou didst set 
him over the work of thy hands” refers to His com- 
ing millennial reign upon earth. (4) “Thou didst 
put all things in subjection under his feet” refers 
to His universal reign after the millennium, in the 
new heavens and the new earth. Any explanation 
which does not discover the Messianic aspects of this 
Psalm is an inadequate one. 


(Forty-fifth ) 


No treatment of the Messianism of the Psalms 
can approximate completeness which does not reckon 
with the forty-fifth Psalm. While it is not neces- 
sarily millennial, it belongs to the kingdom Psalms, 
and will be mentioned here. 


“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: 
A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness : 
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee 
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” 
—Verses 6 and 7. 


The Messianism of this Psalm cannot be success- 
fully disputed without attacking the New Testament 


50 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


interpretation of it, for in the Book of Hebrews 
we are specifically told that reference is here made _ 
to Christ. This is what is said: 


“And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the 
world he saith, And let all the angels of God wor- 
ship him. And of the angels he saith, 

Who maketh his angels winds, 
And his ministers a flame of fire: 
But of the Son he saith, 
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; 
And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy 
kingdom.” 
—Hebrews 1:6-8. 


(Seventy-second ) 


There are several other Psalms, which are some- 
times classed with the kingdom group, but we shall 
examine only one more, the seventy-second. 


“Give the king thy judgments, oh God, 

And thy righteousness unto the king’s son. 

He will judge the people with righteousness, 

And the poor with justice. 

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, 

And the hills in righteousness. 

He will judge the poor of the people, 

He will save the children of the needy, 

And break in pieces the oppressor. 

They shall fear thee while the sun endureth, 

And so long as the moon throughout all generations. 

He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, 

As showers that watereth the earth. 

In his days shall the righteous flourish, 

And abundance of peace till the moon be no more. 

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, © 

And from the River unto the ends of the earth.” 
—Verses 1-8. 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 51 


This Psalm is accredited to Solomon, and cer- 
tainly predicts a future time when a greater than 
Solomon shall sit upon the throne, rule the world, 
and shall dispense blessings both material and 
spiritual. 

The Century Bible has an interesting comment 
on this passage: “The Psalm is ideal throughout, 
Messianic, in the sense that God’s anointed one is 
depicted, not as he so often was in fact, but as he 
ought to be, as the Psalmist hopes he one day will 
be. Hence prayer merges in prophecy. ... This 
glowing description of God’s vice-gerent on earth 
is best read without primary reference to Solomon, 
Hezekiah, or Ptolemy Philadelphus, but as a pro- 
phetic prayer, already partly fulfilled after a fash- 
ion the Psalmist never expected, partly still await- 
ing fulfilment—though the time and manner of 
that ultimate realisation are beyond human presage 
and conjecture.’ ? 

Special note should be made of the spiritual as- 
pect of the prophecy: “righteouness,” “justice,” 
“ike rain,” “peace,” etc. It is of this Psalm that 
Dr. William A. Smith says: “The blessings pre- 
dicted for the reign of Solomon form a transparent 
veil for the transcendent glories prophesied for 
Christ’s kingdom.” ? 


*Century Bible Psalms, Vol. I., p. 351. 
“Old Testament History,” p. 467. 


52 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


While the literalness of the kingdom idea is quite 
prevalent in the Messianism of the Psalms, the ~ 
spiritual idea is also present, as is evidenced by the 
figures employed; the promise of righteousness, 
peace, justice and the type of the priesthood. The 
royalty of the Messianic Psalms may have a first 
reference to Solomon, and may have been partially 
fulfilled in him, but cannot have their complete ful- 
filment in anyone less than the Messiah, of whom 
Solomon may be, in his royalty, a type. Here, too, 
we find the material and spiritual aspects, the local 
and distant things, shading themselves off into each 
other in a way that we would find difficulty in sep- 
arating them if we should try. 


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MESSIANIC PSALMS 


Some of the Psalms were written about the time 
of David and Solomon, not far from one thousand 
B.C. When studied with regard to their Messianic 
concept, they are found to represent a distinct ad- 
vance over the Messianic utterances of the earlier 
writings. This is perfectly in keeping with the 
idea of a progressive unfolding of the Messianic 
hope. We should be disappointed if it were not so. 

In commenting upon the Messianic Psalm, James 
M. Gray says: “In these Psalms the Messiah is 
not only referred to, but He, Himself, in the Spirit 
is heard to speak. It is His feelings and experiences 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 58 


that are being expressed rather than those of the 
human author. In the Gospels we read what He said 
and did, and what was said and done to Him; in 
other words, we obtain a view of the outside of His 
life, but in the Psalms we see the inner side, and 
learn how He felt and how He lived in the presence 
of His God and Father.” “Often it is recorded 
of Him in the Gospels, that He repaired to His 
Father—spent whole nights in prayer, but no intima- 
tion is given of the substance of His prayers. Here 
in the Psalms, however, some of these secret prayers 
are, as it were, published in advance. The Psalms, 
indeed, have been called the prayer-book of Jesus.” * 

The above-mentioned author also quotes a French 
writer, M. E. Guers, as follows: “‘Elsewhere the 
sacred authors speak to us of Jesus—of His vi- 
carious sufferings and His bitter agony; but here 
it is Himself that we hear. It is He who complains, 
who sighs and groans beneath the hand of ‘the prince 
of the power of the air’ and of his instruments. 
It is He who trembles beneath the weight of God’s 
anger; it is He, Himself, who initiates us into all 
His fears, all His alarms, all His terrors, and all 
His moral and physical tortures. In the New Tes- 
tament we see only glimpses of the terrible combats 
of His Soul; in the Psalms we see His anguish.” * 

Sand¢ “Synthetic Bible Studies,” p. 57. 


54 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


EXTRA POETIC- LITERATURE MESSIANISM 


Apart from the Messianism of the Psalms, there 
are many other beautiful passages in the Poetic 
Books, which deserve mention, but inasmuch as it 
is the progress of the unfolding of the Messianic 
hope that we are tracing, and these are not necessary 
to this, many of them may be passed without at- 
tention. One more will be cited. | 

The Songs of Songs is the one Old Testament 
book which reflects to the occidental mind almost 
extravagantly, but to the oriental more appropri- 
ately, the idea of true bridal and conjugal love. 
Whether it was love reciprocated by Solomon and 
the Shulamite or by her shepherd lover and the Shu- 
lamite, we cannot be certain. But unless the book 
contained more than a mere veiled romance of love, © 
it would be unworthy of its place in the Old Testa- 
ment canon of Scriptures. It is a symbol and reflex 
of God’s love for His people Israel, and of Christ 
for the New Testament church. Even this little 
poetic book is not wanting in its Messianic implica- 
tions, as we now look back upon its character. 


RESUME 


Gathering up the outstanding items of progress 
in the unfolding of the Messianic hope, we obtain . 
the following: He was to be 


The Messianic Hope in the Psalms 55 


Of the posterity of the woman. 

Of Semitic Stock. 

A son of Abraham. 

Judah’s Descendant. 

A Brilliant Ruler. 

One Whose Work was Typified by the 
Institutions. 

A Successor to Moses. 

A son of David Typified by Solomon. 

The Kinsman Redeemer, 

A King-Priest. 

A World-wide Potentate. 

The Lover-bridegroom. - 


Cuarpter III 


THE MESSIANIC HOPE IN THE 
PROPHECIES 


The Dual Aspect of Prophecy. As indicated 
previously, the Messianic hope comprehended a two- 
fold aspect of the work of the deliverer—a material ~ 
and a spiritual or a kingly and sacrificial. The pro- 
gress to be made in the unfolding of this hope may 
be expected to augment both of these, to the con- 
fusion of the student of prophecy, unless they are 
properly related. Should it appear that the mater-_ 
ialistic aspect predominates, it is not a matter of sur- 
prise, for the prophecies were written during the de- 
cline, fall and captivity of the Jewish nation, and 
the period when after the return from captivity they 
were struggling against odds in an effort to establish 
a Jewish state. 

But it will be found that the spiritual aspect re- 
ceives much emphasis at the hands of the literary 
(writing) prophets. These two aspects—the mate- 
rial and the spiritual—will be found not to con- 
tradict each other, but to supplement each other, if 
properly understood. 


A Double Reference. It may have been observed 
56 


The Messianc Hope in the Prophecies 57 


before now, that use has been made several times 
of a law in the interpretation of prophetic utter- 
ances which may be called a double reference. By 
this it is meant, that a particular prophecy may 
have a near, partial, local fulfilment, but that it 
may also have a more distant and more complete 
fulfilment. An illustration of this is found in the 
utterance of Moses, which was previously cited, but 
is referred to again here for the purpose of making 
the point clear. | 

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 

Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 


like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” 
—Deut. 18: 15. 


It is evident to all readers of the Old Testament 
that Joshua was the near and partial fulfilment of 
the promise; but Peter, in his Pentecostal sermon, 
quotes this prophecy as applicable to Christ (Acts 
3:22), as does Stephen also, in his defence before 
the council (Acts 7:37). Peter and Stephen were 
not in error in their interpretation of this prophetic 
utterance from the lips of Moses, but they were 
dealing with the more distant and complete fulfil- 
ment of it. Another interesting fact concerning this 
prophecy is, that Joshua is the Old Testament He- 
brew name the New Testament Greek equivalent of 
which is Jesus, meaning deliverer. This is a simple 
illustration of the prophetic double reference. 


58 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


Since the hermeneutical principle involved in the 
double reference is so important, and is employed 
by some and vigorously denounced by others, it is 
necessary to give careful attention to it. 

Dr. Milton S. Terry, in his volume entitled Bibli- 
cal Hermeneutics, has a chapter with the caption: 
“No Double Sense in Prophecy.” This is the most 
strenuous effort the present author has seen to dis- 
credit the hermeneutical principle of the double 
reference. It is interesting to note, however, that 
while labouring to set aside the “‘double sense,” as 
he calls it, he is obliged to concede it, for he says: 
“We reject as unsound and misleading the theory 
that such Messianic Psalms as the second, forty- 
fifth and seventy-second have a double sense and 
refer first to David, Solomon or some other ruler, 
and secondly to Christ. If an historical reference 
to some great, typical character can be shown, the 
whole case may be relegated to Biblical typology; 
the language naturally explained of the person cele- 
brated in the Psalm, and then the person himself 
may be shown to be a type and illustration of a 
greater one to come. After this manner the great 
events referred to in the Immanuel prophecy of 
‘Isa. 7:14, and the calling of Israel out of Egypt 
in Hosea, were typically fulfilled in Jesus.’”2 He 
further says, that the judgment of Babylon, or | 

* “Biblical Hermeneutics,.” p. 383. 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 59 


Nineveh, or Jerusalem may, indeed, be a type of 
every other similar judgment, and is a warning 
to all nations and ages.” But he claims that this 
is a very different thing from the so-called double 
sense or reference. 

It would appear as though Dr. Terry is fighting 
an imaginary or straw man, for it makes but little 
difference whether the language refers to two things 
which may be its fulfilment, or to one thing which 
in turn becomes the type of another. The princi- 
ple involved is exactly the same. So whether we 
call it a “double reference” or single reference which 
refers to one thing, which in turn refers to another, 
the principle is established by the testimony of both 
friend and foe of the law of the prophetic double 
reference. Instead of the use of the law leading 
to confusion and error, as the author quoted claims, 
it is a principle of prophetic interpretation which 
others use cheerfully and he, himself, unwillingly, 
to clear up some otherwise dark prophetic utterances. 

The Prophetic Perspective. To get an intelligent 
understanding of prophecy, the student must have 
an appreciation of the perspective of prophecy. 

In the first place, minutest details are not to be 
expected in prophecy, which God has intended as an 
outline, rather than a detailed delineation. There 
are some things which God purposely withheld from 


60 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


His prophetic picture, relating to the present and 
the future. Where God omits details, we should 
not dogmatise upon them. | 
Another fact which must be reckoned with in the 
study of prophecy is, that in some instances cen- 
turies or eeven millenniums are spanned with a 
comma. An illustration of this is found in Isa. 
GOT cr, '2': | 
“The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; 
because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good 
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent*me to bind up 
the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
captives and the opening of the prison to them 
that are bound; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s 


favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to 
comfort all that mourn.” 


When Jesus used these verses as a text for His 
Capernaum sermon, He stopped reading at the 
comma preceding the phrase, “and the day of ven- 
geance of our God,” closed the book and said: 

“Today hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your 


ears.” 
—Luke 4: 18. 


Jesus stopped reading the text at the comma, 
for had He not done so—had He read across the 
comma—He could not have said wunqualifiedly: 
“Today hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your 
ears,” for the “day of vengeance” was then at least ° 
almost nineteen hundred years away. This shows 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 61 


how, in some instances, centuries and sometimes 
even milleniums are spanned, in prophecy, by only 
a comma. This has a tendency to make the time 
element one of the most disturbing things in the 
interpretation of prophecy. 

In keeping with the above and consistent with the 
idea of a progressive revelation, some of the later 
prophets, at least, may be expected to speak more 
fully and clearly upon the one great subject of 
prophecy, the Messianic hope. As God’s messen- 
gers, their utterances would be consistent with the 
advanced day in which they spoke. Thus, the later 
prophets may be expected to give a more detailed 
delineation of the Messiah than was given in any 
earlier period. In the prophecy of Isaiah alone, 
Dr. Terry believes that he can see progress and 
says: “In this single series we discover a marked 
progress of thought from what is at first broad 
and comparatively indefinite to what is more specific 
and personal.” * In this there is nothing surprising, 
as Isaiah is recognised as the great evangelical 
prophet. Speaking in a figure, the earlier Old 
Testament furnishes a tin-type of the Messiah, 
the later Old Testament a cabinet-sized portrait, 
while the life-sized portrait is reserved for the New 
Testament period. 


#“Riblical Hermeneutics,” p. 328. 


62 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


IN ISAIAH 


A Judge of Nations. “And there shall come 
forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a 
branch out of roots shall bear fruit. And the 
Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit 
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of coun- 
sel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the 
fear of Jehovah. And his delight shall be in 
the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after | 
the sight of his yeyes, neither decide after the 
hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall 
he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the 
meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth 
with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath’ 
of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And right- 
eousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and 
faithfulness the girdle of his loins. And the 
wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the 
young lion and the fatling together; and a little 
child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear 
shall feed; and their young ones shall lie down 
together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of 
the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand 
on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the 
waters cover the sea.” 
—Isa, 11: 1-9. 


“And he will judge between the nations, and will 
decide concerning many peoples; and they shall 
beat their swords into plowshares,eand their spears 
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more,” , 

—Isa. 2:4. 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 68 


The above prophecies relate to a time to which 
the whole Christian world has been looking forward 
to for fulfilment. The universal dissemination of 
the knowledge of the Lord and universal peace are 
things greatly desired by all. Some think of the 
dissemination of the knowledge of the Lord purely 
as a result of missionary effort. Others have 
thought that the coming of universal peace would 
result from the world’s peace movements, peace con- 
ferences, peace treaties, etc. 

In the glorious day predicted here, whenever it 
shall come to pass, conditions are to be radically 
changed. Not only shall war have ceased, but other 
things will have marvelously changed. The proph- 
ecy couples the domestic animal with its present 
beast of prey, and pictures them in peace. The 
carnivorous (flesh-eating) animal, the lion, is rep- 
resented as having become herbivorous (herb-eat- 
ing) like the ox. It is a period which will partake 
of the nature of the present imperfect state and also 
the future, perfect state, but in which the world is 
striding toward the perfect eternal state. It is a 
period when right shall become dominant as sin 
now is. 

That the time promised in the prophecy is not 
yet present is evident to thinking people. Of the 
seventeen hundred million people who inhabit our 
earth, only about two-thirds have ever heard the 


64 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


name of Christ or have come into touch with the 
Gospel. The much-desired universal peace has not 
yet appeared, for treaties have been and will likely 
continue to be treated as “scraps of paper.” Im- 
plements of war have not yet been discarded. As 
long as the hearts of men remain unregenerated, 
outbursts of savagery may be expected at any time. 
The prophet, however, saw the described condi- 
tions coming to pass only in connection with the 
Messianic hope and Messianic reign. In the light » 
of the recent tragedy of civilisation, who can blame 
those in whose best judgment the only remedy for 
the evil condition of the world lies in some other 
definite and positive achievement in the Messianic 
program, than that which has been hitherto expe- 
rienced? Dr. Geo. L. Robinson, of McCormick 
Theological Seminary, expressed this sentiment, 
when before a class of theological students, as a be- 
fitting climax to a discussion on world conditions, — 
exclaimed: “‘Men, what the world needs is not more 
democracy; what it needs is theocracy.” 
The Gentile’s Quest and Light. “And it shall 
come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, 
that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto 
him shall the nations (Gentiles) seek; and his 


resting place shall be glorious.” 
—Isa, 11: 10. 


“T, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and 
will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 65 


thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of 
the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out 
the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that 
sit in darkness out of the prison house.” 

—Isa. 42:6. 


“T will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 
that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of 
the earth.” 

—Isa. 49:6. 


In these prophecies is seen one who should not 
only be attractive to the Jews, but one who should 
be sought by the Gentiles to whom he would be the 
light. Here the breaking of the bounds of Juda- 
ism for the Messiah is definitely anticipated. Aged 
Simeon recognised the infant Jesus as having a re- 
lation to these prophecies, and quoted from them 
(Luke 2:32). John tells of the Greeks who made 
the initial quest to ‘“‘see Jesus” (John 12:20), and 
the Gentile world has never ceased to seek Him, 
more or less diligently. 

A Virgin’s Son. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, 
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” 
—Isa, 7:14. 

It is impossible to read this verse thoughtfully, 
noting its prediction of a virgin’s son arising to 
such prominence as to be called “Immanuel” (God 
with us), without being impressed by the fact, that 
it sustains some close relation to the “Pro-té’’-van- 
gél-i-um” of Gen. 3:15. It was the “seed (posterity) 


66 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


of the woman” who became the hope of the world in 
that early prophecy, and it is the virgin’s son who 
is to be ‘God with us’ (Immanuel), as predicted 
by Isaiah. The Angel of the Lord quoted Isaiah’s 
prophecy in explanation of the birth of Jesus, to 
Joseph, as is recorded in Matt. 1:23. There is 
an intimation of the virgin birth in the first Mes- 
sianic prophecy (Gen. 3:15), and, it will be noted, 
this idea persists both in prophecy, and in history 
which is the fulfilment of prophecy, throughout © 
the Bible. 


The Divine King. “For unto us a child is born, 
unto us a son is given; and the government shall 
be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting 
Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his 
government and of peace there shall be no end, 
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, 
to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and 
with righteousness from henceforth and even 
forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will per- 
form this.” 


—Isa, 9:6, 7. 


No one can justly question the Messianic content 
of these verses. Using what is called the prophetic 
present tense, the prophet writes of an event which 
is yet seven hundred years in the future, as though 
it were being fulfilled before his eyes. Some inter- 
pret this prophecy as merely spiritual. The Jews 
interpreted it as literal, for there is specific reference 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 67 


to his sitting upon the throne of David. In the 
light of previous prophetic utterances it should be 
noted, that there is no contradiction between the 
spiritual and literal in the Messianic hope, if prop- 
erly understood, for it embraces both. The thing 
which is necessary, but which men have failed and 
still fail to do, is to get the proper conception of 
these two aspects as they relate to the Messianic 
program. 
Jehovah’s Servant. “Behold my servant shall 
deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and 
shall be very high. Like as many were astonished 
at thee (his visage was so marred more than any 
man, and his form more than the sons of man), 
so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall 
shut their mouths at him: for that which they 
had not been told them they shall see; and that 
which they had not heard shall they understand.” 
—Isa, 52: 13-15. 
The question as to the identity of Jehovah’s 
Servant in Isaiah is an interesting one, for it has 
a direct bearing upon the Messianism of the proph- 
ecy. There are those who interpret the Servant as 
being Israel. Rufus M. Jones suggests that it refers 
to a “remnant” within Israel.? Still others contend 
that it refers to some unnamed, suffering individual 
among the people of Israel. 
There can only be a measure of truth in either 
suggestion, as there can be no evasion of the fact, 


*“The Remnant,” p. 24. 


68 Progressive Unfolding of M essianic Ho pe 


that in the light of subsequent fulfilment of the 
prophecy, there was only one who could qualify as 
Jehovah’s Servant—the Messiah. In the sense of 
a first reference, and in that sense only, it may refer 
to Israel as a whole, a remnant of Israel, or an un- 
named sufferer within Israel. 

Delitzsch points out what he calls “Servant 
Poems.” * There are four of them. The first one 
is found in Isa. 42:1-g; the second in Isa. 49:1-13; | 
the third in Isa. 50:4-11, and the fourth in Isa. 
52 :13-53 :12. 

In the first poem, the “Servant” appears as a 
person, spirit-filled, and having a mission to the 
Gentiles. In the second, Israel appears to be per- 
sonified, called from the mother’s womb, a light to 
the Gentiles, and the instrument of salvation to the 
end of the earth. In the third poem, the “Servant” 
speaks in the first person, declaring his submission; 
having given his back to the smiters, his cheeks to 
those who plucked off the hair, and having not 
hidden his face from shame and spitting. He is 
one who was made perfect through suffering. The 
fourth poem includes Isa. 52:13-15, quoted above, 
and the whole of the fifty-third chapter. Here the 
“Servant” is seen dying vicariously; meek and 
patient. 


* Delitzsch, “Commentary on Isaiah,” Vol. II, p. 16s. 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 69 


His Vicarious Death. (Isaiah, Fifty-third). 
“He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one 
from whom men hide their face he was despised; 
and we esteemed him not.” 

—Verse 3. 


“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten 
of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for 
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniqui- 
ties ; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; 
and with his stripes we are healed. All we like 
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every 
one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on 
him the iniquity of us all.” 
—Verses 10-12. 


“He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he 
opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to 
the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its 
shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; 
and as for his generation, who among them con- 
sidered that he was cut off out of the land of the 
living for the transgression of my people to whom 
the stroke was due? And they made his grave 
with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; 
although he had done no violence, neither was any 
deceit in his mouth.” 
—Verses 7-9. 


“Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath 
put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul 
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall 
prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah 
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail 
of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowl- 
edge of himself shall my righteous justify many; 


70 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 
and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will 
I divide him a portion with the great, and he 
shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he 
poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered 
with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of 
many, and made intercession for the trans- 
gressors.”’ 7 
—Verses 10-1.2 
Here is a very marvelous and minutely detailed 
delineation of the voluntary, vicarious and redemp- 
tive sufferings of the Messiah. It is not worth our 
while to note even some of the unwarranted sug- 
gestions which are made by certain critics, concern- 
ing this portion of prophecy, by which they becloud — 
and even destroy its meaning. One of the strange 
things, however, is, that men will try to adjust this 
picture to every other person or event, rather than 
to the Messiah and His work, whose description | 
it is. This error is the result of one or more of 
the following things: 

1. A failure to reckon with the facts and con- 
sequences of sin. 

2. An inadequate conception of the Messianic 
hope and its necessary content. 

3. An overlooking of the fact of a progressive 
revelation. 

4. A desire to eliminate the supernatural or pre- 
dictive element from prophecy, or to ignore 
the Messianic. 

There is one question which deserves our atten- 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 71 


tion: the question of the inclusiveness of the 
prophecy. Who are meant by the first personal pro- 
nouns “our” and “we” of the prophecy? While the 
speaker was a Jew, and these pronouns refer pri- 
marily to that nation, we have seen that the 
“Servant” had a specific mission to the Gentiles 
(Isa. 42:6 and 49:6), and was to be the instru- 
ment of salvation to the end of the earth (Isa. 
49:6) ; therefore Jew and Gentile—the whole world 
is included. Geo. Adam Smith says: “The art of 
the poem seems intentionally to leave vague the 
national relation of the speakers to the Servant, 
in order the more impressively to bring out their 
moral attitude to him. There is an utter disappear- 
ance of all lines of separation between Jew and 
Gentile, . . . as if the writer wished us to feel 
that all men stood over against that solitary Servant 
in a common indifference to his suffering and a 
common conscience of the guilt he bears.” ® 

It should be noted, that no attention is given to the 
glory which is to belong to the Servant, or to 
any material blessing which He is to bring, but to 
the voluntary, vicarious and redemptive suffering 
which He is to endure and the spiritual blessings 
which are to result therefrom. Humiliation is the 
burden of this portion of the prophecy, just as glory 

* The Expositor’s Bible, Isaiah, Vol. II, pp. 349, 350. 


72 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


is the outstanding note of other portions of pro-- 
phetic utterance. 

One of the arguments used against the Mest 
interpretation of this passage is, that in all Jewish 
literature in the time of Isaiah and previous, there 
is no expressed conception of a suffering Messiah. 
But this proves nothing, except the superiority of 
the Scriptures over Jewish literature. A prophet 
sees infinitely more than a mere writer of litera- 
ture can see. 


The Anointed One. “The Spirit of the Lord 
Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; 
he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the open- 
ing of the prison to them that are bound; to pro- 
claim the year of Jehovah’s favor, and the day 
of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that 
mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, 
to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of 
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees 
of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that 
he may be glorified.” 
—Isa. 61: 1-3. 


Jesus specifically claims this passage as referring 
to Himself; therefore there can be no question as 
to its Messianic nature. The “anointed” one is 
what His name signifies, being the Messiah of the 
Old Testament and the Christ of the New, both 
names meaning “anointed.” 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 73 


The Solitary Hero Triumphant. ‘Who is this 
that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments 
from Bozra? this that is glorious in his apparel, 
marching in the greatness of his strength? I that 
speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Where- 
fore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy gar- 
ments like him that treadeth in the vinevat. I 
have trodden the winepress alone; and of the 
peoples there was no one with me; yea, I trod 
them in anger, and trampled them in my wrath; 
and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my gar- 
ments, and I have stained all my raiment. For 
the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the 
year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and 
there was none to help; and I wondered that 
there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm 
brought salvation unto me; and my wrath, it 
upheld me. And I trod down the peoples in 
mine anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, 
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” 
—Isa, 63: 1-3. 


This passage has been variously interpreted; 
sometimes as having no Messianic import. Geo. 
Adam Smith and others think that Jehovah, Him- 
self, is referred to. But the Messianism shines 
through the picture. It is a solitary battle hero who 
comes forth a mighty Conqueror. Whatever else 
it may mean, it certainly reflects the lone-handed 
struggle of the Saviour of Men, from which He 
came forth clothed with salvation and triumph. 
Here suffering and glory are again linked together 
in the usual order. 


*“Expositor’s Bible,” Isaiah, Vol. II, p. 442. 


74 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


As a closing word relative to the Prophecy of ' 
Isaiah, it should be mentioned, that no effort has 
been made to exhaust the Messianism of the book. 
There are other passages which are Messianic be- 
sides those referred to, but a sufficient number has 
been quoted to indicate the various aspects of the 
Messianic hope entertained, also to note the prog- 
tress which was made up to and including the time 
of that prophet. The idea of sacrifice is present, 
as well as the idea of royalty. The Messianism 
of Isaiah links very definitely the ideas of suffer- 
ing and reigning. It might be said, that the sacri- 
ficial idea becomes more predominant toward the 
close of the prophecy, but both are pronounced 
throughout. There is no surprise that Isaiah stands 
out as the evangelical prophet of the Old Testament. 
Had the Jews of Christ’s day understood Isaiah, they 
would have had a conception of their Messiah al- 
together different from that which they held in the 
day that He came. Could the Jews of to-day have 
Isaiah’s vision of their Messiah, as one who was 
both to suffer and to reign, they would recognise 
tim who was crucified, as their King, though as 
yet uncrowned. And could some of the present 
day teachers of prophecy get Isaiah’s perspective 
on the Messianic program, they would cease to be 
confused with the two aspects of His mission, those 
of suffering and reigning, and would recognise the 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 75 


purpose of His coming to earth to have been that 
of suffering, only, and not that of enthronement. 


IN MICAH 


The brief prophecy of Micah makes a significant 
contribution to the Messianism of the Old Testa- 
ment, for it points out the place where the deliverer 
was to be born. 


Out of Bethlehem. “And thou Bethlehem, 
Ephrathah, which art little among the thousands 
of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto 
me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings 
forth are from old, from everlasting.” 

—Micah 5:2. 


It was this passage which made it possible for 
the chief priests and scribes to answer Herod’s ques- 


tion, where Christ was born (Matt. 2:6). Thus it 
was written in the prophecy of Micah. 


IN ZECHARIAH 


The King-Priest. ‘Thus speaketh Jehovah of 
hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the 
Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; 
and he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he 
shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon 
his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his 
throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between 
them both.” 
—Zechariah 6: 12, 13. 


Here again the royal and priestly functions are 
united, indicating that he, whose name is the 


76 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


“Branch,” is to combine in his person the offices 
of both king and priest; is to reign and to suffer. 


One Sold for a Price. “And I said unto them, 
If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, 
forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty 
pieces of silver. And Jehovah said unto me, Cast 
it unto the potter, and the goodly price that 1 was 
prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces 
of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the 
house of Jehovah.” 


Matthew cites this prophecy as having been ful- 
f led when Judas sold his Lord for the same num- 
ver of silver pieces, and having rued the bargain, 
-eturned the money to the priests and elders, after 


which it was used to buy the potter’s field. (Matt. 

27°. 10): 
The Pierced One. “And I will pour upon the 
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication; 
and they shall look unto me whom they have 
pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one 
mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitter- 
ness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his 


first-born.” 
—Zech. 12: 10. 


The Opened Fountain. “In that day there shall 
be a fountain opened to the house of David and 
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin, and for 
uncleanness.” 

—Zech. 13:1. 


IN MALACHI 


Malachi was the last messenger of the old dis- 
pensation. When the echo of his prophetic message 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 77 


died away there was silence for the period of four 
hundred years. In these references there is a unique 
mixing of the material and spiritual aspects of the 
Messianic hope, with the spiritual predominating. 


A Refiner. “Behold, I send my messenger, and 
he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, 
whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple, 
and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye de- 
sire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
But who can abide the day of his coming? and 
who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is 
like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and he 
will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and 
he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them 
as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto 
Jehovah offerings in righteousness.” 
—Mal. 3: 1-3. 


The Sun of Righteousness. “For, behold, the 
day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the 
proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be 
stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them 
up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it will leave them 
neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear 
my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with 
healing in its wings.” 
—Mal. 4:1 and 2. 


CONCLUDING NOTE 


In the sketching of the development of the Mes- 
sianic hope in the Old Testament it is not the in- 
tention to quote or even cite all the passages which 
have a Messianic aspect. There are many more, 
both in the Prophecies from which quotations are 


78 Progressive Unfolding of M essianic Ho pe 


made, as well as others. Rather than to deal with 
all the Messianic passages, it is the motive here to 
call attention to the nature of the prophecies which 
cannot be other than Messianic, and to show that 
there is real and indisputable progress in the revela- 
tion which God made toward a manifestation of 
Himself to the world in the person of His Divine 
Son, Jesus Christ. 

It is important that students of Old Testament 
Messianism keep in mind the two outstanding as- 
pects: the sacrificial and the kingly. It was the 
latter which attracted the attention and occupied the 
minds of the declining Jewish nation; so much so, 
that they could not harmonise a suffering Messiah 
with a royal son of David. Kingship and priest- 
hood, contradictory as it may seem to the casual stu- 
dent, are associated throughout the Old Testament; 
and as it is the sacrificial which stands out in the 
first intimation of the Messiah’s coming (Gen. 
3:15), students do well to keep this aspect well in 
the forefront of their thinking. 

It should also be noted, that Messianism in pro- 
phetic utterances is likely to be found in practically 
all connections. It is as though the Messianic hope 
shines not only when all is going well with Israel, 
but also between every rift in the clouds of her 
political and moral sky. It should be constantly 
kept in mind, that Messianism is the one subject 


The Messianic Hope in the Prophecies 79 


of the Old Testament, and whether it be in its his- 
tory or prophecy, poetry or prose, that hope shines 
out between the lines as the all-important theme. 


SUMMARY 


Summarising the results of our investigation of 
the progress made in relation to the Messianic hope 
in the Old Testament, the following results are ob- 
tained concerning the Deliverer: He was to be 

Of the Posterity of the Woman. 

Of Semitic Stock. 

A Son of Abraham. 

Judah’s Descendant. 

A Brilliant Ruler. 

One Whose Work was Typified by the In- 
- stitutions. 

A Successor to Moses. 

A Son of David Typified by Solomon. 

The Kinsman Redeemer. | 

A King-Priest. 

A World-Wide Potentate. 

The Lover-Bridegroom. 

The Judge of Nations. 

The Gentile’s Quest and Light. 

The Virgin’s Son. 

The Divine King. 

Jehovah’s Servant, Dying Vicariously. 
The Anointed One. | 


80 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


The Solitary, but Triumphant Hero. 
Of Bethlehem Birth. 

One Sold for a Price. 

The Pierced One. 

An Opened Fountain. 

A Refiner. 

The Sun of Righteousness. 

At this stage of the Messianic development, with 
its mingling of royal and sacrificial elements, the 
Old Testament comes to a close. The only change, 
if any, between its close and the opening of the New | 
Testament, will be that which was effected during 
the period between the Testaments, of approximately 
four hundred years. The books of the Old Testa- 
ment Apochrypha and profane history must be con- 
sulted to trace any progress made within this 
period. 


Cuapter IV 


MESSIANIC EXPECTATION OUT- 
SIDE OF JUDAISM 


While there can be traced a Messianic hope and 
a development of that hope within Israel, the na- 
tion whom God took into His own confidence and 
communicated to them His purpose and plan, it must 
not be forgotten that the other peoples of the earth 
were experiencing the same desires, though they 
were unable to express them in the same terms, In 
Israel the desire became hope, while among the other 
peoples desire became more desire. 

The Old Testament which does not purport to be 
a history of the race nor of the Jews, as such, but 
an account of God’s redemptive movements in behalf 
of the world, does not deal with nations outside of 
Israel, except incidentally. But it is interesting to 
note, that these incidental references have sufficient 
evidence to prove that other nations had some 
knowledge of God, and other hearts were reaching 
up for His love and fellowship. A Melchizedek, 
whose genealogy and achievements are unknown to 
us, was God’s king-priest, and became a type of 


Christ. Balaam of Pethor, though proving himself 
8I 


82 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


unworthy of God’s continued blessing and help, evi- ) 
dently knew the true God. Rahab, the Canaanite, 
was saved by accepting the faith of the Israelites; 
and Ruth, the Moabitess was injected into the an- 
cestral line of David by choosing the God of the 
chosen people. Cornelius, the Gentile, eagerly heard 
the word concerning Christ when it began to be pubs 
lished throughout Judea and Galilee (Acts 10:37, 
38), and was found a believer ready for the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit, just as soon as God had — 
prepared one who was willing to go and bear the 
message of full salvation to him. Jacob, in the 
patriarchal blessing bestowed upon Judah, indicated, 
that he who should arise from among his descend- 
ants would be sought by the nations, or Gentiles 
(Gen. 49:10). Isaiah, the great evangelical prophet, 
declared that Jehovah’s Servant should not only be 
a restorer of Israel, but a light to the Gentiles, and 
that His salvation should be to the end of the earth 
(Isa. 49:6). Haggai saw beyond the boundaries 
of Israel, and recognised the universal claim upon 
the Messiah, and said: “The desire of all nations 
shall come” (Haggai 2:7). 

Turning our eyes toward the Gentile world, we 
find that no prophet had ever exaggerated its in-_ 
terest in and desire for help from a source external 
to itself. As far back as the history of the human 
race can be traced, even in its dimmer outlines, man’s 


Messianic Expectation Outside of Judaism 88 


chief quest has been for God. This is true in rela- 
tion to the people out from whom Israel was called, 
the Semites, as well as it has been true of every 
nation before that time and since. There were va- 
ried expressions of that desire, but they all testify 
to man’s quest after God. Zoroaster, who lived 
about seven centuries before Christ, and whose 
name one of the oriental religions bears, while 
contemplating God, is reported to have declared, 
that God could never be known unless He would 
reveal Himself in human form. This declaration 
from the lips of a founder of an oriental, heathen 
religion is striking, and almost amounts to a proph- 
ecy, for no revelation short of this could ever have 
made God adequately known to the world. 

A study of the Graeco-Roman world, where civi- 
lisation struggled to its highest point religiously, as 
well as in many other ways, discloses how nearly 
the Gentile world approached the truth. Of the 
Greeks it has been well said, that they came to the 
threshold of truth, but could go no further. ‘“Wis- 
dom” had carried them as far as it could go, but 
gradually they came to feel, that something more 
than wisdom was necessary. Among the Greeks 
and Romans can be found many unquestionable ex- 
pressions and practices which indicate Gentile long- 
ing after God. The Roman cult of emperor wor- 
ship was the result of a misdirected expectation of 


84 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


the incarnation of deity. Greeks and Romans 
gradually became monotheistic. Prayer became uni- 
versal. Sacrifice, which is as old as the race, was 
practised in varying measure. A belief in immor- 
tality became quite general. Greek enthusiasts be- 
came “street preachers,” who sought to apply their 
philosophies to the needs of their fellowmen. 
Dying men and women were attended by the philoso- 
phers, who sought to give consolation. People 
approached a real sense of sin. Seneca expressed — 
his sense of the sinfulness of human nature. It 
is Angus who says, that the Confessions of Augus- 
tine of the fourth century is an answer to the 
demand of Socrates, “Know thyself” (Greek, 
yvwb. ceavrév).1 Both of the Greek poets, Eratus 
and Cleanthes, expressed sentiments worthy of quo- 
tation by Paul to the Athenians on Mar’s Hill, when 
he said: “Your own poets have said, For we are 
also his offspring.”’ (Acts 17:28). Socrates is re- 
ported by Plato to have exclaimed: “Oh that some- 
one would arise, man or God, to show us God!” 
Seneca questioned: ‘Where shall he be found whom 
we have been seeking so many centuries?” ‘The 
above-named writer speaks of these as: “Voices, 
crying in the wilderness of Paganism, preparing the 
way of the Lord.”? It is no surprise that God 


*“The Environment of Early Christianity,” p. 80. 
* Tbid., p. 78. 


Messianic Expectation Outside of Judaism 85 


could no longer withhold the revelation of Himself 
to the world, in the light of their strivings to 
know Him. 

All these were unwitting contributions to the 
preparation of the world for the coming of the 
Saviour. Besides these spiritual preparations, both 
the Romans and the Greeks made material contribu- 
tions. The Romans provided a stable government 
and built roads, making the propagation of Chris- 
tianity possible, The Greeks furnished the vehicle 
of language, upon which the message of salvation 
could ride to the ends of the earth. Unconscious 
contributions of the Gentile world to the spread of 
the Gospel! 

The Gentile reaching out after God was well un- 
derstood by Him. He met man on that threshold 
of truth where he could proceed no further. If 
man had gone his longest length to find God, he 
was still far from finding Him. But God met him 
where he was. The Greeks, in their philosophy, 
had coined a word which expressed their highest 
spiritual conception. It was the word logos 
(Greek, Néyos). To the Greeks this was an un- 
knowable, impersonal something, sometimes used as 
if to express personality or to differentiate the 
Creator from the creation. Inspiration caught up 
this empty category and filled it with a divine con- 
tent, as if to fill an empty vessel which man’s high- 


86 Progressive Unfolding of Messiamc Hope 


est wisdom held up to be filled. Changing the 
figure, the logos is made, in the Gospel by John, to 
mean a living, breathing, pulsating, vitalising per- 
sonality, the Son of God. It was the logos, the 
“Word,” who was declared by John to have been 
in the beginning, to have shared in the creation of 
the worlds; to have tabernacled among men, and to 
have been the world’s Redeemer. 

While the term logos was a term of Greek — 
philosophy, the thought which it expressed was not _ 
necessarily one of Greek philosophy, only. The Old 
Testament writers used certain phrases intended to 
represent God, not in His absolute being, but in 
His manifestation to the world, such as “The Angel 
of the Lord,” “The Wisdom of God,” etc. Certain — 
scholars believe that Philo of Alexandria, who was 
a Hellenistic Jew and formulated the doctrine of 
the logos, united two streams of thought; that of the 
Jewish writers with that of the Greek philosophy.? 

In searching for the cause, other than intuition, 
for such remarkable reaches of the Gentile world 
after God, perhaps only one historic event needs to 
be mentioned—the Diaspora (Dispersion). This 
was the one greatest single factor in the preparation 
of the world for Christianity. Providently, the 
Jews had been scattered everywhere. They had 


*“Expositor’s Greek Testament,” Commentary on John, 
John 1:1, page 684. 


Messianic Expectation Outside of Judaism 87 


maintained their places of worship, and by so doing 
pointed the world to one God. They were a praying 
people, and the pagan world was taught by them 
to pray. They were a people optimistic in their 
hope of a better day, and shared this hope, in some 
small measure at least, with their neighbours. Their 
hope of immortality could not fail to raise in the 
bosom of every one with whom they came into con- 
tact the question of the future. The Diaspora, in 
a measure that it is impossible to estimate, helped 
to bring the world to the fulness of time when 
God could send His Son to become its Redeemer. 


CHAPTER V 
THE MESSIANISM OF THE JEWS 


The opening pages of the New Testament intro- 
duce to us the political condition of the world at 
the time of the birth of Christ. The Roman Em- 
peror ruled the world, and even Palestine, the home 
of the Hebrew people, was divided into several 
Roman provinces, the governors being appointed 
by and subject to the Roman Government. 


THEIR POLITICAL CONDITION 


The Jews, whose poets had sung of and whose 
prophets had predicted a deliverer, were still a sup- 
pressed, disorganized and nationless people. They 
lost their independence with the fall of Jerusalem 
in 586 B.C. The northern kingdom had gone into 
Assyrian captivity in 722. At the decree of Cyrus, 
some of them returned to Jerusalem in 536, rebuilt 
the temple, and later the walls of the city. They 
were, with a little exception, ruled constantly by 
foreign nations. First, they were in Assyrian, and 
later in Babylonian captivity, and later dominated . 
by Persia, Greece and Syria in their turn. Headed 
by the Maccabees (makkab meaning the hammer), 


Mattathias and his son Judas, the Jews succeeded, 
88 


The Messiansm of the Jews 89 


by a struggle lasting twenty-five years (168 to 143 
B.C.) in throwing off the Syrian rule. This pe- 
riod is known in history as the Maccabean period. 
Simon, the brother of Judas, was ordained Prince 
and High Priest in 143. The period covered by 
the reign of Simon and his successors, from 143 
B.C. to 63 B.C., is properly the Asmonean (or 
Hasmonean ) period, the name meaning “Simonites.”’ 
During the latter part of the Asmonean period the 
borders of the kingdom of the Jews were extended 
to practically the same limits of the kingdom of 
David, so well did the Jews prosper politically. But 
inner strife and political jealousies brought on civil 
war, and in 63 B.C. Jewish independence was lost, 
Palestine passing under the yoke of Rome. With 
the exception of three years, from 40 to 37 B.C, 
during which time the king of Parthia held the 
country under domination, the Romans did not cease 
to dominate Palestine from 63 B.C. to the close 
of the New Testament period. 


THEIR RELIGIOUS STATUS 


Religiously, the Jews can best be understood by 
studying the parties which had arisen, and into 
which they were broken up. 

The Pharisees. This party was so named from 
the Greek Pharisaios, meaning a separatist. They 
were the predominant party, which arose in the 


90 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


post-exilic period. They were the successors of-the 
Chasidim, the ancient party which struggled 
against the Hellenising influences with which the 
Jews were confronted in the Graeco-Roman world. 
They were the conservatives or orthodox, who held 
the letter of the law in almost superstitious regard, 
and had built up a detailed interpretation of the law 
which they gradually came to reverence as they 
reverenced the law itself. They believed in the ex- 
istence of angels, spirits, in a future life, the free- 
dom of the will and in a coming Messiah. They 
were rigidly patriotic to their own nation, and their 
arrogancy is charged as the cause for the tottering 
Jewish state when the Roman yoke was placed upon 
the neck of the Jews. In the time of Christ they 
numbered, according to Josephus, six thousand. 
There were two parties of them: the Hillel, the 
moderate party, and the Schammai, the “straitest 
sect.” It was the last-mentioned to which Paul 
belonged. They were the outstanding religious 
party, aspiring to the control of civil and religious 
institutions. They composed the majority of the 
Sanhedrin. Among them were some pious persons, 
such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Aramathea and pos- 
sibly Gamaliel. 

The Sadducees. This party received its name 
from the Greek Tsaddoukaios (Zaédéovxaios) trans- 
literated either from the Hebrew Zadok, a high 


The Messianism of the Jews 91 


priest in David’s time, or tsodik, a Hebrew word 
meaning “righteous” or “upright.” They opposed 
the Pharisees in almost every particular. They 
were liberals, the materialists, freethinkers, and 
had little regard for the law, rejecting the Pharisaic 
interpretations of the same. They also rejected 
the other doctrines of the Pharisees, such as angels, 
spirit, future life, etc. They were almost purely 
negative in their attitude towards religious mat- 
ters. They were, in reality, a reactionary party, 
revolting from the ultra-conservatism of the 
Pharisaic position. Their number, was compara- 
tively small, but they were wealthy and influential. 
Their ambition was for political, rather than reli- 
gious power. 

The Essenes. The name is either from the He- 
brew word aw-say-yaw, to heal, or the Greek word 
hosios (800s), holy. It was a sect which arose 
mediating between the Pharisees and Sadducees. 
They sought neither to stress nor to reject the tra- 
ditional, giving themselves over to a mystical, con- 
templative mode of life. They formed a brother- 
hood of a moral and religious nature which became 
the forerunner of all subsequent orders of monks, 
hermits, friars and nuns. They took an oath, or at 
least a pledge of secrecy; were initiated into the 
order; practised celibacy, and were communistic, 
They appear to have had little interest in the dis- 


92 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


turbances which arose over Jesus, remaining un- 
moved by all that was transpiring. 

The Herodians. So named because of their sup- 
port of Herod of Galilee, in his ambition and effort 
to be recognised as ‘“‘King,” by the Roman Em- 
peror, Caligula. Being a purely political party, it 
figured only indirectly in the religious life of the 
Jews. It had little in common with the other par- 
ties, except in joining hands with the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, whose enemies they were, in seeking to 
incriminate Jesus. 


PHARISAIC MESSIANISM 


As is seen from a review of the political condition 
and religious status of the Jews at the time of the 
opening of the New Testament, their Messianism 
would be that which was held and taught by the 
Pharisees, for they shaped the thinking of the mass 
of the Jews, interpreting their Scriptures for them. 
They were the ruling element in the Sanhedrin; also 
the scribes, who played such an important part in 
New Testament times. They built up rigid and 
materialistic interpretations of the law, utterly ig- 
noring and totally disregarding the spirit of it, plac- 


ing it out of all relations with life. They bound» 


burdens on men’s backs which they would not touch 
with one of their fingers (Matt. 23:4). They were 
strict in paying tithes of herbs and spices, but neg- 


The Messianism of the Jews 93 


lected the weightier matters of the law, justice, 
mercy and faith (Matt. 23:23). They hated the 
Gentiles, as did all of the Jews. They accused Jesus 
of casting out devils by the prince of devils (Matt. 
9:34). They watched Him with a jealous eye from 
the time that He entered His public ministry, and 
plotted frequently to take Him. It was they who 
hounded Him until they had Him on the cross. 
They assisted in His arrest, took an active part in 
His trial and pleasure in His condemnation. Jesus 
had frequently condemned them, calling them 
“hypocrites,” “blind guides,” etc., and had warned 
His disciples against them. 

Touching the doctrine of the Messianic hope, it is 
not difficult to divine what sort of a Messianism 
would be held by such a sect as the Pharisees. Any- 
thing like a spiritual conception of the Messianic 
hope would not be countenanced by a dominating 
sect, in whose hands everything else had become 
legalistic, formal and materialistic. One would in- 
deed be surprised if the spiritual benefits of the 
Messianic hope, which were spoken of by the 
prophets, had not been completely ignored and ren- 
dered meaningless by these legalistic, materialistic, 
self-righteous Pharisees. Instead of finding them 
advocates of a Messianism, well-balanced as to its 
spiritual and literal aspects as was announced by 
the prophets, they had exalted the literal and ma- 


94 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic H ope - 


terialistic aspect to the complete exclusion of the 
spiritual. 

Christ was, of necessity, a complete disappoint- 
ment to Pharisaic Messianism. They expected that 
a mighty king would arise, who would immediately 
throw off the Roman yoke of oppression. They 
expected that he would make Jerusalem his capital, 


and subject all the surrounding nations to the Jews, © 


There is no wonder that the Christ of Bethlehem 
could not meet such wrongly-directed expectations. 
It might be just to observe at this point, that an 
extreme millennial view which refuses to acknowl- 
edge the present, spiritual kingdom of Christ in the 
world, and demands an extremely literal interpre- 
tation of all the kingdom teaching of the New Tes- 
tament, is unconsciously a participation in the view 
of the literalistic Pharisees, and is quite as much in 
error as the denial of the future, visible kingdom. 
The acknowledgment of one aspect of kingdom 
teaching and denial of the other represents two ex- 
tremes from which a correct Messianism would 
deliver. Not a spiritualising, nor a literalising, to 
the exclusion one of the other, but in proper rela- 
tion to each other and in their proper order, is the 
correct view of the Messianism of the Bible. 


7 


Cuarter VI 


THE MESSIANISM OF JOHN THE 
BAPTIST 


One of the most unique characters of the Bible 
is John the Baptist. He may be reckoned, at the 
same time, as the last prophet of the Old Testa- 
ment and the first of the New Testament. He 
stood with one foot in the Old Dispensation and 
the other in the New, thus spanning them. He 
was the “Messenger of the Covenant’ prophesied 
by Malachi, the “Elijah” who was to come (Matt. 


2:7-15). 
The message of John the Baptist to the people 
was: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is 


at hand.” (Matt. 3:2). This message he continued 
to declare with fiery eloquence, and multitudes 
flocked to him for baptism. There are those who 
have difficulty in interpreting John’s message and 
its effect upon the people. No doubt many who 
came for baptism were prompted by a materialistic 
conception of the Messianic hope. Even Pharisees 
and Sadducees were among the applicants. There 
is a tendency, at the present, to interpret John’s 


ministry as based upon a materialistic conception 
95 


96 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Ho pe. 


of the Messianic hope. Such would have us be- 
lieve that John, himself, was operating upon a 
false idea, and that he believed the Jesus was 
coming to set up immediately an earthly kingdom. 

Waiving for the present John’s personal Messianic 
conception, let us examine his message. 


JOHN’S MESSIANIC MESSAGE 


John’s message was not the heralding of an im- 
mediate and earthly kingdom. This statement may 
seem somewhat challenging at first, but can be 
substantiated. Its characterising utterance was: 
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. 
Its key notes were “repentance” and “the king- 
dom”. Please note that it was not only John who 
heralded this message; but Jesus, when he began His 
public ministry, caught up the same message, and 
went about saying: “Repent: for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand’ (Matt. 5:17). Not only 
did John and Jesus preach in this manner; but 
when he called and commissioned His apostles He 
told them to tell the same message. Here is the 
commission: “As ye go, preach, saying, The king- 
dom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7). The 
seventy were also commanded to preach the kingdom ° 
and say: “The kingdom of God is come nigh” 
(Luke 10:11). Now, one thing is evident: either 
John’s ministry had in it the spiritual conception and 


The Messianism of John the Baptist 97 


message of the Messianic hope, or else the ministry 
of Jesus, the twelve and the seventy was entirely 
misdirected. It would appear that every candid per- 
son would admit of the logical correctness of this 
conclusion, and that no one would dare venture a 
criticism of the ministries of Jesus, the twelve and 
the seventy. There are other things that are con- 
vincing that John’s ministry was a spiritual one. 

I. His introduction of Jesus: “On the morrow 
he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith: Behold 
the lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
world” (John 1:29). This statement is very sug- 
gestive of the redemptive work of Christ, recalling 
the Old Testament sacrificial lamb, and needs no 
further comment. 

2. His reference to the Holy Spirit's baptism: “T 
indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh 
he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose 
shoes I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize 
you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire’ (Luke 
3:16; Matt. 3:11). This carries us entirely across 
the earthly ministry of Jesus, beyond His crucifixion, 
resurrection and ascension, to Pentecost, where Jesus 
witnessed to His disciples that He had returned 
to the Father, by sending the Holy Spirit as He 
had promised to do. Here the spiritual blessings 
which accompany “repentance” and the Holy Spirit’s 
baptism were preached by John. 


98 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope. 


3. His rejection of certain candidates, who had 
evidently come out of selfish motives: “But when 
he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees com- 
ing to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye off- 
spring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the 
wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy 
of repentance” (Matt. 3:7-8). Here were some of 
the identical persons—the Pharisees who had such — 
materialistic and unspiritual conceptions of the Mes- 
siah, coming to receive John’s baptism. No doubt 
they misunderstood John’s ministry, but, fearing 
lest they might be mistaken and thus fail to get 
in upon the ground floor of the kingdom, should 
one appear, were willing to submit to John’s baptism, 
prompted purely by selfish motives. John, no doubt, 
had a good reason for calling them an “offspring 
of vipers’. According to both Matthew and Luke, 
John rebuked them for priding themselves on the 
fact that they were of the seed of Abraham (Matt. 
3:9 and Luke 3:8). They appear just about ready 
to present their credentials, as children of Abraham, 
for prominent places in the kingdom. 


JOHN’S PERSONAL CONCEPTION OF THE MESSIAH 


- Now, a wrong understanding of John’s ministry © 
by the Pharisees and Sadducees does not necessarily 
argue against its spirituality and correctness, and 
proves nothing in this regard. 


The Messianism of John the Baptist 99 


From what we have seen in relation to John’s 
Messianic message, it is difficult to believe that 
he could have been wrong in his personal con- 
ceptions of the work of the Messiah. Even if it 
be true, that the twelve apostles were wrong in re- 
lation to their thinking concerning the nature of 
Christ’s kingdom, the case of John the Baptist, the 
forerunner of Christ, seems somewhat different. 

. The question of John’s personal conception of the 
Messiah arises more particularly in connection with 
one incident. It was when John was in prison, 
being told that Jesus was performing miracles, and 
even raising the dead, that he sent two of His dis- 
ciples to Jesus, telling them to ask Him the follow- 
ing question: “Art thou he that cometh, or look 
we for another?’ (Luke 7:20). Why this ques- 
tion? There are several answers which are given. 
Among them are the following: 

That John had a wrong conception of the 
Messiahship of Jesus, and that, being in prison, 
John was impatiently awaiting the time when 
Jesus would set up his kingdom, as a result 
of which he would be released. 

That John sent his disciples to ask Jesus this 
question, that they might have for themselves 
an answer from the lips of Jesus, Himself, in 
order that they might be strengthened in their 
own faith in His Messiahship. 


100 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


That some doubt had arisen in the mind of 
John, and that he desired an assuring message 
from Christ at that time. | 

An examination of the answer which Jesus sent 
to John may throw some light upon the whole 
matter. | 

A part of the answer of Jesus to John was an 
exhibition of His power. After the question was 
asked, in the same hour, He healed infirmities and 
plagues, cast out evil spirits, and caused the blind — 
to see. Then said Jesus unto John’s disciples: 
“Go and tell John the things which ye have seen 
and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame 
walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, the poor have good tidings 
preached to them’. He also added: “Blessed is he, 
whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in 
me; (Luke:7 :22 and: 23). 

It should be noted, that Jesus not only gave an 
exhibition of His power as an answer to John, but 
that the exercise of that power was within the realm 
of spiritual, as well as material things. It was the 
preaching of good tidings, as well as the healing of 
the body. His answer had no political outlook, 
whatsoever, but a decidedly spiritual bearing. John ° 
appears to have understood it, and publicans con- 
tinued to submit to his baptism at the hands of his 
disciples (Luke 7:29). This is significant when 


The Messianism of John the Baptist 101 


we remember, that the first distinct note of his 
preaching and a condition for baptism was, re- 
pentance. 

Now, John may have sent one of His disciples, 
that they might receive an answer from Christ, Him- 
self, relative to His Messiahship, for their personal 
benefit and the benefit of all of. John’s disciples. 
It may be that there were times when John, in 
his own thinking, became confused over the kingdom 
aspect of the message which he had proclaimed under 
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If so, it was 
a confusion of the mind, and not of the message, 
and would not be strange in relation to prophetic 
utterances, for prophets appear often to have spoken 
better than they knew. We should not forget, that 
John was human, and subject to temptation, as well 
as others. He had exchanged the pure, free air 
of the Jordan for the foul air of the dungeon, and, 
in such circumstances and environments, it would be 
surprising if he should not have been tempted to 
doubt almost anything which he had believed and 
hoped concerning the Messiah, and had not need 
of a fresh testimony of assurance to his own heart 
from the lips of Christ. 

Whatever may be said concerning the Baptist’s 
personal Messianic conception, or any possible doubts 
which may have arisen in his mind later when he 
was under great trial, there is absolutely no reason 


102 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 
why his Messianic message should be looked upon 
as a mistaken heralding of an immediate and tem- 
poral kingdom. It was the inspired heralding of 
just what was being ushered in. 


Cuarptrr VII 


CONTENT OF THE MESSIANIC 
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS 


A number of questions arise concerning the Mes- 
sianic self-consciousness of Jesus. Did Jesus know 
that He was the Messiah? If so, when did He come 
into possession of this consciousness? Did He 
claim to be a king? If so of what sort of a king- 
dom was He king? If aking, or the Messiah, how 
could He harmonise His predicted sufferings and 
death with His kingdom? These may appear dif- 
ficult questions to us, but they were not to Him. 

On this point there is no small amount of con- 
fusion. Some have gone so far as to teach, that 
Christ Himself was not clear upon the subject of 
His Messiahship, and necessarily felt His way 
amidst the circumstances of His day. Not only the 
critic, but a few who should have a clearer conception 
of Christ’s Messianic programme teach, that up to a 
certain point in His ministry He laboured toward the 
establishment of an immediate Jewish kingdom, and 
that when He saw the Jews would not accept Him, 
a change was made in His programme, and He de- 


cided to organise a church instead. The repudi- 
103 


104 Progressive Unfolding of M essianic Ho pe 


ation of such an unjustified interpretation of the 
Messianic programme is not hard to find, for it is 
entirely contrary to the Gospel narrative. At least 
twice, steps were taken by the Jews to make Jesus 
king, once even by force (John 6:15), but He 
withdrew Himself. Christ was not a king who was 
refused the crown of the Jews, but the King refus- 
ing their crown. Should He have accepted the crown 
of the Jews, where would be our Redeemer? The 
world would have had a Jewish kingdom, but no 
Saviour—no redemption. . 

While it would be folly to dogmatise as to the 
time when Jesus came into full consciousness of 
the Messianic program, one need have no hesitancy 
in believing that Jesus never groped blindly amidst 
circumstances, that He never experimented in one 
manner, then another. It may be declared unhesitat- 
ingly and with emphasis, that Jesus did not proceed 
for a time upon the assumption of setting up an 
earthly kingdom, later switching His plan to the 
establishing of the church, because of being re- 
jected by the Jews. Even at the age of twelve Jesus 
gave evidence of a consciousness of a unique re- 
lation to the Father (Luke 2:49), and who dare 
question His consciousness of the Messianic pro- 
gramme after He entered upon His public ministry? 
Had Jesus no better conception of the Messianic 
programme than some would teach, the introduction 


Content of Messianic Self-Consciousness 105 


which John the Baptist gave to Him when He 
entered upon His ministry must have sounded 
strange in His ears. But Jesus knew well the Mes- 
sianic programme, as His teachings to His dis- 
ciples disclose. 

Concerning the Messianic self-consciousness of 
Jesus—Geerhardus Vos says: “He distinguished two 
forms of Messianic activity, one on earth in humility, 
one from the throne of glory, and, corresponding 
to this two forms of the kingdom, one invisible now, 
one visible at the end, and, thus understood, the 
two-sidedness of His Messianic consciousness af- 
fords a striking parallel to the two-sidedness of 
His kingdom conception.’ 

His kingdom was not of the world (John 18:36). 
He was called a “born king” by the wise men from 
the east (Matt. 2:2). When Pilate asked Him 
whether He was a king He answered: ““Thou sayest” 
(Matt. 27:11), which was an answer in the affirma- 
tive. When over the cross there was written: “This 
is Jesus the King of the Jews’’, there was, in reality, 
no misrepresentation ; though Pilate’s motive in thus 
placarding the cross was not in the interest of truth 
so much as for self protection and vindication. 
Pilate also took this opportunity for revenge against 
the troublesome Jews, and sought to humiliate them 

*“The Kingdom of God and the Church,” p. 61. 


106 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic H ope 


by intimating to the world that a crucified criminal 
was their king. 


THE “KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” AND “‘KINGDOM OF 
GOD” 


An effort is sometimes made to differentiate be- 
tween the “kingdom of God” and the “kingdom of 
heaven’’, but this brings confusion and is unneces- 
sary. That the phrases are used interchangeably 
by Jesus can be easily proven by a little observation. 


Matthew says concerning the preaching of 
Jesus: “From that time began Jesus to preach, 
and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand.” 

—Matt. 4:17. 

Mark reports that He said: “The kingdom of 
God is at hand.” 

—Mark 1:15. 

Matthew reports Jesus to have said concerning 
the necessity of the new birth: “Verily I say 
unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little 
children, ye shall in no wise enter into the king- 
dom of heaven.” 

—Matt. 18: 3. 

Mark says: “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever 
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
child, he shall in no wise enter therein.” 

—Mark 10:15. 

Luke says: “Verily I say unto you, Whoso- 


ever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a 


little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.” 
—Luke 18:17. 
Matthew says, that the parables were uttered 
concerning the “kingdom of heaven.” 
—Matt. 13: 11, 24, 31, 33. 


a — 


Content of Messianic Self-Consciousness 107 


Mark calls them parables of the “kingdom of 
meek —Mark 4:11, 26, 30. 
Luke also calls the same parables “kingdom 
of God’ parables. 
—Luke 13:18, 20. 

There are many such passages where Jesus is 
quoted in such a way as to show that the writers 
understood Him to have meant the same thing when 
He used one phrase or the other; but these are 
typical and are sufficient to establish the point, that 
the expressions, “kingdom of heaven’, and “king- 
dom of God’, are used interchangeably in the New 
Testament. 

There may be a sense in which the two terms 
“Kingdom of Heaven’, and “Kingdom of God”, 
have a differing connotation. The latter might refer 
to God’s eternal and universal rule, while the for- 
mer might designate that rule as it is established 
upon earth. The phrase, “Kingdom of Heaven”, 
would then indicate the character and source of the 
kingdom, but would be, in reality, a form and phase 
of the “Kingdom of God”. 

While Jesus employed both phrases to express the 
same thing, Matthew uses “Kingdom of Heaven” 
almost exclusively, while Mark and Luke employ 
the phrase, “Kingdom of God”. Dr. Vos suggests 
for these facts the following reason: First, among 
the later Jews a tendency existed to forego employ- 


108 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


ing the name of God; and that the word “‘heaven”’ 
was used as a substitute. Similar uses of the word 
“heaven” are found in Matt. 16:19; Mark 11:30; 
Luke 15:18, 21. This may account for the almost 
exclusive use of the phrase, “Kingdom of Heaven’, 
in Matthew. Again, for the same reason, Mark and 
Luke may employ the phrase, “Kingdom of God’, 
exclusively, considering the phrase, “Kingdom of 
Heaven’’, typically Jewish, and less intelligible to 
Gentile readers.? 


THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 


No reference has yet been made to the group of 
Christ’s followers denominated the “church”. 
There is a sense in which the present spiritual king- 
dom and the church are identical. The condition of 
entering, and even seeing the kingdom, is the same 
as that required for admission into tke true church, 
viz. regeneration (John 3:3-5; Matt. 18:3). The 
word ecclesia (Greek éxdAncia), from which we 
translate the word church, is compounded of ek 
(&), a preposition, meaning out of, and kaleo 
(xadew), meaning to call. The word means, the , 
called-out. The Septuagint uses this word in a few 
instances to designate the assembly of Israel; but 
the New Testament writers made frequent use of 
the word. 


*“The Kingdom of God and the Church,” pp. 31-33. 


Content of Messianic Self-Consciousness 109 


The close relationship of the church and the 
kingdom is evidenced by the fact, that Peter was to 
sustain a very unique relation to both. He was to 
have a place in the foundation of the church, and to 
be entrusted with the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 
16:18, IQ). 

It has been suggested, that the kingdom idea 
conveys the relation of the believer to God, as ruler, 
and to His law by which he is governed; while the 
church relationship indicates the separation of be- 
lievers from the world and their relation to one 
another. In the light of the persistency of the 
kingdom teaching to the church in its founding, and 
in the church after its establishment, some such dis- 
tinction appears consistent. 

There is a sense, however, in which the kingdom 
has a wider scope. The church of Christ embraces 
only such persons as are born from above, and thus 
become members of the body of Christ. The king- 
dom may be said to embrace the whole scope of 
human affairs, world-wide, wherever God has 
shown His supremacy. Harmonising these two 
ideas, whether it always does so intelligently or not, 
the church goes forward in the double consciousness, 
first of its separation from the world, and secondly, 
in its complete dependence upon and subordination 
to heaven, from which it looks for its Saviour and 
Lord, Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20). 


110 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


The Gospels and the Epistles give us this con- 
ception of the relation of the church and the king- 
dom. The body of Christ, which is united to Him 
by faith, is to rule with Him in the perfected king- 
dom. In the closing chapters of the Revelation the 
“Holy City” is definitely designated as the church, 
the bride of Christ, and is distinct from the great 
world and the great nations of the world which will 
finally rejoice in the light of that city. 

That there were two aspects to the work of the 
Messiah, a literal and a spiritual one, has been un- 
mistakably reflected in Old Testament, prophecy. 
The order of these two aspects of the kingdom 
is set forth in Christ's own teachings as follows: 
To the Pharisees, who pressed upon Him the ques- 
tion, when the kingdom of God should come, He 
replied that it was already in their midst. They 
could not see it, for they were not in a position to 
discern spiritual realities. It was not a matter for 
observation. Turning to His disciples, He told 
them that after His departure there would be those 
who would come and profess to be Christ’s, and 
warned them against going after them, assuring 


them that, when He, the Son of Man, came, ‘in’ 


His day”, He would be manifest as the lightning 
in the heavens. Here we have the invisible and the 
visible aspects of the kingdom set in contrast by 
Christ, Himself. One aspect was not of “observa- 


4 


Content of Messianic Self-Consciousness 111 


tion’: the other manifest as the lightning of heaven. 
But teaching them further He said: “But first must 
He suffer many things and be rejected of this gener- 
ation” (Luke 17:25). That is, before He can be 
revealed in “His day”, the day of His glory, He 
must suffer many things. He is saying to His 
apostles, that there is an item in the Messianic pro- 
gramme which precedes that of His glory: It is the 
item of His suffering. 

Christ was the “born king’: He is king, in a 
genuinely spiritual sense, to all who accept Him 
as such, who give to Him the throne of their lives, 
who put the crown upon His head and put the sceptre 
into His hand. To such He is as much King as He 
will be a million of years from now. He died as 
a king, according to His own testimony (Matt. 
27:11), and He is coming as King (Matt. 25 :23- 
28). He was king: He 1s King now, and will be until 
His work is completed and He shall deliver up the 
kingdom to the Father (I Cor. 15:23-28). Because 
of our human limitations, it is difficult for us to see 
more than one item in the great redemptive pro- 
gramme at a time; but we should be willing to let 
Christ’s own testimony, in relation to the kingdom 
aspect of His first coming and His teaching concern- 
ing the future, to stand unchallenged. There is cer- 
tainly no higher authority. 


112 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


That there was no break in the Messianic pro- 
gramme of Jesus, relative to His Kingly relation, is 
evidenced by the persistency with which the king- 
dom continued to be taught, both by Himself and 
the apostles. 


The “Kingdom of God” was the subject of 
Christ’s teachings to His apostles, during the © 
forty days of His post resurrection stay (Acts 
eh Ie | 
The Apostle Paul preached the “Kingdom of 
God” on his missionary journey (Acts 14:22), 
and at Rome (Acts 28: 23). 

The definition of the present “Kingdom of 
God,” as given by the Apostle, reveals it to be a 
spiritual reality, for he says: “For the kingdom 
of God is not eating and drinking, but righteous- 
ness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” 
(Romans 14:17). 

Saints are said to be “delivered out of the power 
of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of 
the Son of his love’ (Col. 1:13). 

In the first chapter of Revelation is found a 
doxology which embraces a wonderful retro- 
spective achievement of the work of Christ, and 
according to the exact Greek rendering reads: 
“To the one having loved us and freed us from 
our sins through his blood, and made us a king- 
dom, priests to his God and Father, to him be 
glory and dominion into the eternities’. Here 
the Aorist tense is used, suggesting not only past, 
time, but a single act, once and for all. This 
harmonises beautifully with the other Scripture 
teaching relating to the present, spiritual kingdom 
of Christ, which the saints constitute. 


Content of Messianic Self-Consciousness 118 


CHRIST'S OWN RECOGNISED MESSIANIC PROGRAMME 


An epitome of Christ’s teaching concerning His 
recognised Messianic programme and His relation 
to it may be given as follows: 

1. He made a complete break with the Pharisaic 
system. 

2. He gave a new teaching about God, disclos- 
ing Him to be Father, not merely a king or judge. 

3. His kingdom, whatever and whenever, was 
Davidic (Luke 1 :31-33). 

4. Though fundamentally Davidic, He exalted it 
above the Davidic (Mark 12 :35-37). 

5. He repudiated the idea of a Jewish monopoly 
upon the kingdom. 

6. He taught the necessity of the death of the 
Messiah. 

7. He predicted His resurrection. 

8. He taught, that in order to complete His Mes- 
sianic programme, He must return to the Father, 
during which time the Holy Spirit would be en- 
gaged with the practical carrying out of what He 
potentially accomplished in His mediatorial work, 
after which He would return in power to set up 
His visible, glorious kingdom. 

It should yet be stated, that while Jesus em- 
phasised these truths, none of them were entirely 
new. In one manner or another, by prophecy 'or 


114 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


symbol, they can be found in the Messianic content 
of the Old Testament. He clarified these teach- 
ings, and exemplified them by being their fulfil- 
ment. | 

Touching the Messianic self-consciousness of 
Jesus, there is an aspect of His Lordship which 
should yet be noticed: 

During His earthly ministry He proved His Lord- 


ship over ‘everything. His lordship over the world | 


of spirits was proven by the casting out of demons. 
He proved His lordship over physical man by healing 
afflicted bodies, and over spiritual man by forgiving 
sins. The calming of the troubled sea at His word 
is an evidence that even the elements recognised 
the authority of their Master. His supremacy in 
the realm of nature was seen when, at the wedding 
feast in Cana, “the conscious water saw its Lord, 
and blushed’”’, becoming wine; also when the fig tree 
withered away at His displeasure. There is even a 
hint at His authority over the beast, where we have 
the significant little verse which says: “And (He) 
was with the wild beasts” (Mark 1:13), suggesting 
a measure of companionship with His animal 
creatures. 

The Messianic self-consciousness of Jesus is illus- 
trated more completely in Chapter IX entitled: “The 
Apostles in the School of Transition”. 


a ee 


Cuaptrr VIII 


THE COLLAPSE OF THE 
MESSIANIC HOPE 


That the apostles of Jesus shared, in some real 
measure, the Messianism of the Pharisees who ex- 
pected the establishment of an immediate earthly 
kingdom, no thoughtful student of the New Testa- 
ment will deny. But there was this difference: 
The Pharisees had already rejected Him because they 
could see no possibility in Him of meeting their 
materialistic expectations, while the apostles believed 
what they could not see, that, in a way as yet un- 
known to them, He would prove Himself able to 
accomplish what seemed to them to be, at least in 
part, His mission, that of setting up the kingdom. 
But there was another difference. The apostles of 
Jesus had a heart experience, because of which they 
knew something which defied analysis by any in- 
tellectual process. As a result of this spiritual quick- 
ening, they had at least a glimpse into the spirituality 
of Christ’s kingdom; yet this vision was still ham- 
pered by materialistic conceptions. 

Who can know the bosom struggles of the earliest 


disciples of Jesus, as they conceived, in a measure, 
115 


116 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


the spirituality of His mission, and yet were not 
able to relate this aspect of His work to that of 
the “King of Israel’? No doubt a constant struggle 
was theirs from the day that Nathanael, one of the 
first five disciples called, responded: ‘Thou art the 
Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John 
1:49). 

We are not wanting evidence that the apostles — 
were still greatly in the dark concerning the spiritual 
mission of Jesus late in the third year of His min- 
istry. Just before the transfiguration we are told 
that Jesus began to teach that the Son of Man must 
suffer many things, be rejected of the elders, chief 
priests and scribes; must be killed and after three 
days rise again. At this, Peter, the spokesman, took 
Him and began to reprimand Him. But Jesus re- 
buked Peter, saying: “Get thee behind me, Satan, 
for thou mindest not the things of God, but the 
things of man” (Mark 8:33). A good paraphrase 
of this verse might be suggested as follows: “Peter, 
the course which you are now pursuing is due to 
a lack of spiritual discernment. By the delusion of 
material things which is the work of Satan, you 
are being blinded to the spirituality of my mission. 
It is man’s shortsightedness pitted against God’s 
wisdom. Put such false delusions behind thee’. 

The fact that the apostles continued to be dis- 
turbed by the teachings of the scribes on one hand, 


The Collapse of the Messianic Hope 117 


and the statements of Jesus’on the other, is reflected 
from the transfiguration narrative. When Jesus 
came down from the Mount, having been trans- 
figured before a part of their company, Jesus said 
to them: “Tell the vision to no’ man until the Son 
of Man be risen from the dead” (Matt. 17:9). 
Mark adds, that they questioned among themselves 
what the rising from the dead should mean (Mark 
9:10). Immediately they propounded a question to 
Jesus: “How is it that the scribes say that Elijah 
must first come,” referring to Malachi’s prophecy, 
which meant John the Baptist, and which fulfilment 
the scribes were denying, thus attempting to invali- 
date the Messianic claims of Jesus. Just as the 
scribes had misunderstood John’s ministry to be a 
material rather than a spiritual ministry, so they 
persisted in the kingdom of Jesus being a material 
rather than a spiritual one. Jesus immediately told 
them that as John had suffered at the hands of the 
scribes, the Son of Man would also suffer at their 
hands. 

Despite all the hope which the apostles of Jesus 
may have entertained concerning the physical well- 
being of their Master and the kingdom which it 
seemed to them that He must certainly set up, they 
became more and more distressed as, toward the 
close of His life, He informed them more frequently 
and in language which ought not have been mis- 


118 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


understood, that He must suffer and die. It was 
while yet in Galilee that Jesus told them that he 
should be killed, and that He would rise again the 
third day (Matt. 17:22). The writer then adds: 
“And they were exceeding sorry’. : 

The collapse of their Messianic hope came when 
Jesus was betrayed, tried and actually crucified upon 
Calvary. All of the apostles had forsaken Him be- 
fore his trial was over, except John, and, of the 
twelve, he alone stood at the cross. Matthew tells 
us that when Jesus was betrayed in the Garden, all 
of ‘the disciples forsook Him and fled. (26:56). 
Peter and John, having recovered themselves, fol- 
lowed unto the high priest’s palace. Reluctantly 
Peter went in, and sat down with the servants 
“to see the end.” But Peter failed and did not 
remain with Jesus to the end, as did John, but denied 
Him thrice with heartrending curses. 

James Stalker was quite correct when he wrote: 
“There never was an enterprise in the world which 
seemed more completely at an end than did that 
of Jesus on the last Old Testament Sabbath. Chris- 
tianity died with Christ, and was laid with Him in 
the sepulchre. It is true that when, looking back — 
at this distance, we see the stone rolled to the mouth 
of the tomb, we experience little emotion; for we 
are in the secret of Providence and know what is 
going to happen. But, when He was buried, there 


The Collapse of the Messianic Hope 119 


was not a single human being that believed He 
would ever rise again before the day of the world’s 
doom.” 4 

The bitter disappointment of the apostles can best 
be estimated if we may have them relate it in their 
own words, while their hearts were broken under 
the crushing of their most cherished hope. It was 
the day after the Jewish Sabbath. Two of the dis- 
ciples were on their way to Emmaus, the exact loca- 
tion of which is somewhat in dispute. The name 
of the one is given as Cleopas and the other one is 
not named. Just who it was whom Luke calls Cleo- 
pas is not certain. It is quite probable that Emmaus 
was the home of one or even both of them, and 
that they were returning home as one would whose 
life plan has been suddenly crushed and the future 
was but a dark foreboding. They were walking 
along, talking of the events of the yesterdays, which 
seemed to them like a horrifying nightmare. Quite 
unexpectedly they were joined by a third person, 
whose identity was unknown to them, and who may 
have been for a brief time an unwelcome travelling 
companion. But their hearts were too full to remain 
silent, and any other subject would have been too 
commonplace in the light of the tragic events which 
had just transpired. It seemed like a breach of 
courtesy when the unbidden and strange companion 

1“Tife of Christ,” p. 140. 


120 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic H ope 


broke in upon the conversation with the question: 
“What communications are these that ye have one 
with another, as ye walk?’ Startled both by 
question and the apparent stupidity of the ques- 
tioner, Cleopas answered: “Dost thou alone sojourn 
in Jerusalem, and not know the things which are 
come to pass there in these days?” Mere generalities 
would not suffice, and as if determined to secure a 
specific statement from these apostles from whom 
hope had apparently taken wings, the questioner con- 
tinued to ask: ‘What things?” Unable to evade a 
straight-forward answer, they replied: “Concerning 
Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in 
deed and word before God and all the people: And 
how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him 
up to be condemned to death, and crucified him? 
But we hoped that it was he who should have re- 
deemed Israel.’ Luke 24:18-109. 

In the last line of this confession is to be found 
the collapse of the Messianic hope, as they were able 
to think of it. The redemption of Israel was not 
only that spiritual work which we are likely to read 
into the language from our vantage point of nearly, 
two thousand years of accumulated knowledge of 
the historic Christ; but a striking off of the yoke of 
foreign domination which Israel had worn most of 
the time for a period of more than seven hundred 
years, and an avenging of the wrongs which she 


The Collapse of the Messianic Hope 121 


had suffered. This, together with a reign of right- 
eousness, justice and peace, with Christ upon the 
throne of His father David, with Jerusalem as His 
capital, and the surrounding nations rendering 
homage to Israel, was the Messianic hope which 
lay at the feet of the apostles crushed, as it ap- 
peared, forever, as they stood dazed for a brief time 
and then scattered every man to his own home 


(‘John 16:32). “We had hoped, but!” 


Cuaptrr IX 


THE APOSTLES IN THE SCHOOL 
OF TRANSITION 


The apostles of Jesus were, nationally, Jews. © 
When He found them they were very much like the 
common rank and file of the Jews of their day, and 
shared their thinking, which was largely guided by 
the Pharisees, through their teachers or interpreters, 
the scribes. The essential difference between the fol- 
lowers of Jesus and the Pharisees was, that they 
accepted Christ as the Messiah, whatever that might 
mean, while the Pharisees rejected Him as the Mes- 
siah; for the lowly circumstances of His birth, the 
absence of political ambition on His part and the 
spiritual nature of His ministry convinced them 
that He would not meet their Messianic expecta- 
tions. 

There were three distinct calls which Jesus gave 
to some of those who became His apostles. One call, 
took place at the Jordan where Jesus was baptized 
by John the Baptist (John 1), and is sometimes 
spoken of as a call to friendship. A second call 
occurred when Jesus found a number of them back 


at their occupation as fishermen in Galilee, and 
122 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 123 


said unto them: “Come after me and I will make 
you (cause you to become) fishers of men.” Matt. 
4:18. This is quite properly a call to discipleship, 
for a disciple is a learner, and Jesus purposed to 
instruct them in the art of fishing for men, and 
as Luke puts it, “to cause them to catch men alive” 
(Greek) 5:10. The third call was when, in the sec- 
ond year of His ministry, Jesus, having spent a 
whole night on the mountain in prayer, came down 
to His disciples and selected twelve as apostles (Luke 
6:12-16). This was a call to apostlesmp. Mark 
states the purpose of the apostolic call to be: “That 
they might be with him (discipleship, which means 
being instructed, was not to be discontinued), and 
that he might send them forth to preach (the word 
apostle being compounded of the Greek verb to send, 
and a preposition, meaning, away), and to have 
authority to cast out demons.”’ 3 :13-15. 

The whole group of Christ’s disciples constituted 
the church in embryo, and the apostles were to be 
ministers and leaders. That a spiritual quickening 
or regeneration, because of which they became chil- 
dren of God and their names were written in heaven, 
marvellous as that was, did not set them intellectu- 
ally right is evident from the things they said to 
Jesus, and Jesus said to them. Doctrinally, they 
were the heirs of several centuries of materialistic 
teaching concerning the Messiah, and with this Jesus 


124 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Ho pe 


immediately began to reckon, and set about to cor- 
rect. The process was a long and somewhat tedious 
one, but Christ knew how to accomplish their trans- 
ition from wrong conceptions of Him and His work 
to right ones. ‘He was a patient, tactful, successful 
Teacher, who enrolled the apostles in His school, as 
we shall see. Standing where we stand it would 
seem to us, at first, that one explanation from the 
lips of Jesus should have made everything clear to 
the apostles; but we must not forget that we are 
heirs of more than nineteen centuries of increasing 
light, and even today there are not a few who are 
just about as much confused over the spiritual and 
literal aspects of the Kingdom of God, as were 
these apostles. The main difference is, today some 
of the unenlightened disciples of Jesus are emphasis- 
ing the spiritual aspect to the exclusion of the literal, 
while the apostles mistakingly emphasized the literal 
at the expense of the spiritual. A characteristic of 
the race then—that of being able to see only one 
thing at a time—is still in evidence. Happy that 
soul who can properly relate great truths, such as 
these are, together! 

We shall now attempt to discover the processes. 
by which Jesus set about to correct the wrong think- 
ing, and consequently the wrong attitude of His dis- 
ciples toward His kingdom, and how it was ulti- 
mately accomplished. 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 125 


THE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 


The Lesson of Repentance. There were two dis- 
tinct notes in the ministry of Jesus: one was that of 
the kingdom and the other repentance. Repentance 
is an attitude which relates to man’s well-being in the 
sight of God. It can be clearly seen as a spiritual 
note. Instead of relating the “kingdom’’ to patriot- 
ism, to politics or statesmanship, he related it to re- 
pentance—a humble, penitent attitude of soul. It 
was not a question of favour or disfavour with the 
Emperor of Rome, under whose domination Pales- 
tine was in the time of Christ, but a matter of favour 
or disfavour with God. As Jesus went about all 
Galilee preaching, His disciples accompanied Him. 
The omission of any mention of citizenship, civil 
rights or Roman oppression on the part of Jesus, 
may have seemed strange to these new disciples; 
but “kingdom, repentance’”—not “kingdom, political 
liberty’, were the only notes of His ministry. 
(Matt. 4:17, 22-23). 

The Lesson of the True Beatitudes. A practical, 
if not a formal code of false “Beatitudes” was in 
vogue at the time of Christ and has been ever 
since. This false code has dealt with man’s supposed 
well-being in relation to a strong, well-developed, 
dominating political system. The Beatitudes of 


126 Progressive Unfolding of M essianic Hope 


Jesus are concerned with man’s well-being in rela- 
tion to the spiritual kingdom of God upon earth. 


CHRIST’S BEATITUDES 


Blessed ‘are the poor in 
spirit. 

Blessed are 
mourn. 

Blessed are the meek. 


they that 


Blessed are the hungry. 
Blessed are the merciful. 


Blessed are the pure in 
heart. 

Blessed are the peacemak- 
ers. 

Blessed are the  perse- 
cuted. 

Blessed are the reviled. 


THE WORLD'S BEATITUDES 


Blessed are the strong in 


spirit. 

Blessed are 
laugh. 

Blessed are they who as- 
sert their rights. 

Blessed are they who are 
full. 

Blessed is he who has re- 
venge. 

Blessed is he, whose heart 
is steel. 

Blessed are the successful 
war-makers. 

Blessed are the persecu- 
tors. 

Blessed are those who can 
revile. 


they that 


In the Beatitudes of Christ spiritual things are 
reckoned as the attained blessings, while in the 
Beatitudes of the world material things are looked 
upon as the measure of the good. All this may 
sound familiar and commonplace in our teaching 
now, but to the disciples it was a much less familiar 
thing. 

The Lesson of True Riches. In the days of Christ, 
as well as every day since, a man’s material pos- 
sessions determined his wealth. This again was 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 127 


based upon a materialistic view of life. Jesus only 
once called an individual a “‘fool’, or “‘foolish one’, 
and it was a prosperous man who measured soul in- 
terests by material prosperity. “Soul take thine 
ease, thou has much goods,” soliloquised the suc- 
cessful but deluded farmer. But Jesus said: “Thou 
foolish one, this night is thy soul required of 
thee’ (Luke 12:20). Jesus counselled His disciples 
not to lay up for themselves treasures on earth, for 
here riches are corrupted or are stolen; but to lay 
up treasures in heaven where they are safe and sure 
(Matt. 6:19-20). Someone has said that all one can 
take with him in his cold, pale hand is what he has 
given away. Jesus taught that the safest and most 
profitable investment for His disciples was of a 
spiritual nature, which would be a treasure await- 
ing them in heaven. Since a well-filled treasury is 
looked upon as an indispensable asset to any earthly 
government, to say the least, Christ, in directing 
the disciples toward a spiritual investment, was 
turning their eyes away from any vision which they 
might have had of an earthly kingdom. 

The Lesson of Kingdom Importance. Humanly 
speaking, there are a few things which concern us 
directly. I’ood, clothing and shelter constitute a 
trinity of material things which are uppermost in 
men’s minds. Again, a plentiful supply of food, 
sufficient clothing and adequate shelter are almost 


128 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Ho pe 


inseparably bound up with the political and com- 
mercial prosperity of a nation. When Jesus drew 
the line between work and worry, and cited the 
lilies of the field and the birds of the air as care- 
free objects of the Father’s interest, He was direct- 
ing the minds of His disciples away from the 
material things which were necessary in themselves, . 
toward spiritual things. Reaching the climax, Jesus 
said: “But seek ye his kingdom, and his righteous- 
ness; and all these things (necessary material things ) 
shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). Material 
things are secondary and should be treated as such. 
The kingdom of God and righteousness, invisible as 
that kingdom was, were to be the objects of pur- 
suit by the followers of Jesus. Fine lesson for dis- 
ciples in the “School of Transition”! 

The Lesson of a Present Kingdom, though In- 
wistble. It was well towards the close of the ministry 
of Jesus that a company of Pharisees, possibly in 
the presence of His disciples, insisted upon a state- 
ment from Jesus, as to the time of the coming 
of the kingdom of God. To this Jesus responded: 
“The kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! 
for Lo, the kingdom of God is within you (or better 
as the margin of the American Standard Version 
has it, “in the midst of you”) Luke 17:20-21. 
The kingdom of God, as it related to their day, 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 129 


was not a material one, was not one which could be 
appreciated with the sense of sight, but was a 
spiritual reality in the hearts of His true followers; 
in their midst, although unrecognised by them. 

The Lesson of His Rejection and His Revelation. 
But this occasion must not pass without some specific 
instruction to the disciples of Jesus, who must have 
been not a little confused over His answer to the 
question propounded by the Pharisees. Recognis- 
ing the confusion of mind, Jesus said to His dis- 
ciples: ‘“The days will come, when ye shall desire 
to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye 
shall not see it. And they shall say to you, Lo 
there! Lo here! go not away, nor follow after them: 
for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of one 
part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part 
under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his 
day. But first (referring to the above as following 
the first) must He suffer many things and be re- 
jected of this generation. * * * After the same 
manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man 
is revealed” (Luke 17:22-30). Here is mentioned 
a suffering and a being “revealed”, chronologically, 
in order, “first” and second. A good paraphase 
of the above teaching of Jesus might be as follows: 
“When I am departed from you, ye shall desire to 
see me, but I shall be absent. In your fond antici- 
pation of my return ye shall be tempted to at least 


130 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic H ope 


examine the credentials of certain ones who shall 
claim falsely to be the Christ. (No less than sixty 
persons have professed to be the Messiah.) Go 
not after them. I will return, but when I do so it 
will not be in obscurity, but as the lightning which 
shineth throughout the heavens. Before this comes 
to pass, however, between now and then, lies a. 
period of suffering, rejection and death, and an 
apostasy of the human family akin to that of Noah’s’ 


9 


day.’”’ Here in perspective is the Messianic pro- 
gramme, with its necessary suffering, its cross, and 
with its coming glory so conspicuous that the whole 
world will recognise its presence and reality. Here 
is Jesus’ specific teaching on the subject of His 
humiliation and glorification. 

The Lesson of Suffering and Reigning, in Parable. 
There are two parables which Jesus gave the people 
(His disciples and others), which have a direct bear- 
ing upon the subject under consideration, the Parable 
of the Wicked Husbandmen (Matt. 21 :33-34), and 
the Parable of the Pounds (Luke 19:12-27). It 
should not be forgotten, that a parable is intended 
to teach one important truth and must not be pressed 
into too great detail, for by so doing every parable 
which Jesus gave or figurative language which He 
employed could be completely spoiled. So, then, a 
Kingdom Parable is intended to teach some par- 
ticular aspect of the Kingdom of God. 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 131 


These parables are too familiar to require quoting 
in entirety, but note the teaching of the first one: 
A “householder’—God; a “vineyard’”—the world; 
“husbandmen’—Jews. He sent “servants” and 
more ‘“‘servants’—prophets whom they “beat”, 
“stoned” and “killed”. Finally He sent His ‘‘Son” 
—Christ, whom they “slew”. “Other husbandmen” 
—Gentiles. Here in parable is a lesson on Christ’s 
suffering. Note the second: A “nobleman’’—Christ, 
went into “a far country’—back to heaven, to re- 
ceive His kingdom credentials. He distributed to 
His “ten servants’—His church—‘ten pounds’— 
bodily, mental and spiritual powers, to occupy until 
His return. At His return there was a reckoning 
when two were found who had made use of the 
talent, while one had refused stewardship for His 
Master. These represent classes. The nobleman 
returns, clothed with new authority for judgment. 
Here is a parable of Christ’s authority for judgment, 
when He returns a second time. 

Particular note should be made of the fact that 
Jesus had a definite purpose in speaking these 
parables. In relation to the first parable, the pur- 
pose is distinctly stated : “Because they supposed that 
the kingdom of God was immediately to appear” 
(Luke 19:11). Unless a careful distinction is made 
between His spiritual kingdom—an invisible king- 
dom within the hearts of His people,—and a visible, 


182 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic H ope 


glorious kingdom which is yet in the future, there 
will be much confusion, for Jesus declares the first 
to have been present in the days of His earthly min- 
istry, while He declared that the latter was yet to 
come. | 
The Lesson of Suffering and Glory Shared. It 
was near the close of Christ’s ministry when Peter, | 
who had noticed the probability of Christ establish- 
ing an immediate, earthly kingdom gradually re-— 
ceding, as if almost in despair, approached Jesus 
with the question: “Lo, we have left all, and fol- 
lowed thee; what then shall we have?” (Matt. 
19:27). Here is an expression of keen disappoint- 
ment, a confession of blighted prospects. All has 
been given up, sorrow has been shared, with no 
visible prospects of compensation. Jesus did not 
seek to minimise the sacrifice which they had made, 
but sought to show them that, while the compensa- 
tion was yet in the future, it was adequate, and said: 
“Ye who have followed me, in the regeneration (in 
the time of my future glory when the world will 
have been reborn in righteousness) when the Son of 
man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye shall also 
sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel” (Matt. 19:23). Did His apostles compre- 
hend this entirely? No! Neither do we fully under- 
stand it; but it is evident that Christ was contrasting 
His future glory with His then present humiliation 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 133 


and suffering, and made it plain that His true fol- 
lowers would share in both. 

The Lesson from Jew and Gentile Nations. In 
connection with His prediction of the fall of Jeru- 
salem and His instructions for the Christian’s con- 
duct at that time, which He delivered on the Mount 
of Olives, Jesus proceeded to a prophecy which did 
not have its fulfilment in the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, but which can only be completely fulfilled 
in connection with a re-appearing of our Lord. This 
prediction can be properly interpreted only by the 
use of the hermeneutical principle called the law 
of “double reference’, for it certainly refers to 
two times and events. The first and initial ref- 
erence is to the destruction of Jerusalem, which 
was accomplished by Titus in A.D. 70. The second 
and more complete reference is to Christ’s second 
coming. A part of the prophecy is as follows: 


“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, 
and shall be led captive into all the nations; and 
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, 
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And 
there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; 
and upon the earth distress of nations, in per- 
plexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; 
men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the 
things which are coming on the world: for the 
powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then 
shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud 
with power and great glory. But when these 
things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift 


134 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


up your heads; because your redemption draweth 
nigh.” Luke 21: 24-28. (Matt. 24 should also be 
examined. ) : 


Several distinct things are to intervene the fall of 
Jerusalem and the return of Christ, as follows: 

1. The Jews are to be scattered among the 
nations (Verse 24). 

2. Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the 
Gentiles (Verse 24). | 

3. There is to be an end to the Gentile domi- 
nation. The line also gives an intimation that 
the Jews will again come into their own land 
when Gentile rule ceases (Verse 24). 3 

4. There will appear signs in the heavens 
(Verse 25). 

5. Perplexity and distress of nations are to 
follow (Verse 25). 

6. Christ will then come in power and great 
glory (Verse 27). 

Here is a marvelously interesting outline of events 
when studied in relation to the rest of the Scriptures 
in the light of subsequent history. It is the lesson 
of the relation of the Gentile period to the still larger 
unfolding Messianic hope, and the more complete’ 
working out of the Messianic programme. 

One more teaching will be examined, as the final 
lesson in the “School of Transition”. 

The Lesson of a Spiritual Faith. It was in the 


The Apostles in the School of Transition 135 


upper room where Jesus had eaten the last Passover 
meal, had ministered the sacrament and had washed 
His disciples’ feet, that He gathered them closely to 
Him, in the absence of Judas Iscariot, and gave them 
His parting instructions, and offered for them His 
wonderful intercessory prayer. An analysis of these 
heart-talks reveals a final and closing word on 
various subjects, including prayer, obedience, love, 
the spiritual relationship, the Holy Spirit, His re- 
turn, and faith. In the reading of these chapters the 
last-named subject is most likely to escape our atten- 
tion; yet Jesus places it well toward the head of 
the list. 

Note the statement: “Ye believe in God, believe 
also in me” (King James Version) (John 14:1). 
How startling! Had they not believed in Him? Of 
course they had; but their faith was in Him as they 
saw Him. It was a faith which had, as a basis, 
His physical presence. But Jesus well knew that 
their faith was about to be submitted to a strain, a 
test, to which it had never been exposed before, and 
it needed a new vitalization. What better could Jesus 
say to them than what He did say, which in sub- 
stance was this? “Ye believe in God, and have never 
seen Him. Ye have believed in Me as I walked 
among you in bodily presence. The time is at hand 
when ye shall not see me, and now, make the new 
stretch of your faith: just as ye believe in the 


136 Progressive Unfolding of Messiamc Hope 


Father whom ye have not seen, so believe in Me 
when ye shall not be able to see Me. I will come 
again; but until I return, let not your hearts be 
troubled, but believe in Me.” 

Jesus also taught them that the Holy Spirit, in His 
spiritual presence, would be in the world during the 
interim of His absence, reproving the world of its 
sin, guiding His people into all truth, showing things 
to come, or constantly directing the eyes of His dis- 
ciples to His promised return. | 

As we see it now, how befitting a closing lesson in 
the “Course of Instruction”, in the School of Trans- 
ition,’ where disciples were being trained away 
from a materialistic conception of Christ’s Mes- 
siahship, to a spiritual one! Perhaps it would be 
more correct to say, that the disciples were being 
taught the proper relationship between the spiritual 
and the material, between the seen and the unseen, 
for every lesson in the course was designed to at- 
tract the minds of His followers away from the 
material, to which they had such a decided leaning, 
and to direct them to spiritual things in their proper 
relation to the material. 


CHAPTER X 


THE APOSTLES STILL IN THE 
SCHOOL OF TRANSITION 


THE COURSE OF DEMONSTRATION 


Easy as the lessons concerning the importance 
of spiritual things compared to material things, 
which Jesus taught His followers from time to time, 
may seem to present-day disciples, they were not 
easy to them. No careful student of the New Testa- 
ment will dispute the fact, that when Jesus was cruci- 
fied His apostles looked upon their Messianic hope 
as a disappointment. Their return to their own homes 
and a resuming of their former occupations is fair 
evidence of this. The teachings of Jesus by word 
had not accomplished the transition from their hope 
in a literal kingdom to a spiritual one. It had ac- 
complished something: it had prepared the way for 
further enlightenment; but had Jesus then dismissed 
them from His tuition, failure would have been in- 
evitable. 

It is an interesting question to ask, why Jesus did 
not return to heaven immediately upon His resur- 


rection? Why forty days of earthly visitations after 
137 


138 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


He had conquered death? There may be other an- 
swers, but here is no doubt the most significant one: 
Jesus had a company of disciples and particularly 
apostles, who had taken His “Course of Instruction” 
on the importance of spiritual things compared to 
material, but who had failed when the test came. 
They were in need of being re-enrolled in His 
School of Transition for His “Course of Demon- 
stration’, which He was now prepared to give them. 
“Eyegate’, as well as “‘eargate’, was an important 
factor in the School of the Master, as it has ever 
been in every successful school since, and Jesus 
recognised this pedagogical fact. He spent these — 
forty days in demonstrating to His disciples the 
truth which he had taught them in word before His 
crucifixion, in assisting them in getting across from 
their materialism to a spiritual conception of Him 
and His mission; interpreting the “kingdom of 
God” in the light of the death of the King (Acts 
La). 

It is interesting to note that Jesus made an ap- 
pointment with them, before His crucifixion, as is 
mentioned in Matt. 26:31, 33; 28:7, 10, 16. While 
there may have been some other purpose in the ’ 
appointment of Galilee by Jesus as the meeting place, 
a careful study of the whole subject leads to the 
conclusion that it was Galilee where Jesus knew some 
of His apostles were sure to resort, and He met 


Apostles Still in the School of Transition 139 


them on their own grounds, to give them a demon- 
stration of His spiritual personality, even remind- 
ing them of His appointment with them through 
the women who first saw Him at the tomb (Matt. 
28:7). Accordingly we find seven of them back at 
the sea of Tiberias, fishing, where Jesus appeared to 
them (John 21 :1-24). It was here that Jesus dined 
with them on the seashore, and exacted from Peter 
a confession of his love, and gave him the com- 
mission to feed His sheep. 

While Jesus appeared to His disciples eight or nine 
distinct times (some count eleven), each one serving 
its purpose, there are a few of these appearances 
which throw special light upon the nature of 
Christ’s present spiritual kingdom. 

Jesus, having listened to the gloomy conversation 
of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
chided them saying: “Oh, foolish men, and slow of 
heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. 
Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, 
and to enter into His glory?” Beginning at Moses, 
He explained to them the Scriptures concerning the 
Christ. How we wish that the sacred historian had 
given us a full account of these Messianic exposi- 
tions, but He did not. Although the disciples knew 
Him not, they had found one who was able to set 
Over against their pessimistic view one of cheery 
optimism, and they invited Him to tarry with them, 


140 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


for it was evening. A picture of Oriental hospitality! 
When they sat down to the evening meal, and 
Jesus, as He had often done in their presence, blessed 
the bread and brake it, they recognised Him. But 
the strangeness of the event was, that no sooner 
had he been recognised by them than He vanished 
out of their sight. Then said they to one another: 
“Was not our heart burning within us as He spake 
to us in the way, while he opened to us the Scrip- 
tures?” Luke 24:32. This was upon the evening of 
the day of His resurrection. | 

But in Jerusalem an interesting event. was occur- 
ring. Prompted by an inner, inexplicable something, 
the apostles gathered from their retreating places— 
John from his home, where, at Jesus’ request, he had 
taken Mary, others from their seclusions where they 
had wept out the sorrow of their hearts for having 
forsaken Jesus. One by one they arrived at their 
accustomed meeting place until the eleven were there, 
except Thomas. Whether it had been their practice 
to bar the door while Jesus was yet with them we 
are not told; but John informs us that upon this 
occasion the door was “shut’’, for fear of the Jews 
(20:19), which no doubt means, barred. The Jews 
could not be trusted: they had just succeeded in 
crucifying Jesus, and those who had been His dis- 
ciples had no guarantee of safety. 

But the things which occurred at Emmaus were 


A postles Still in the School of Transition 141 


too good to keep. Supper was quickly eaten or aban- 
doned, and an evening trip was made to Jerusalem. 
Those Emmaus disciples had hastily traversed the 
thirty hilly furlongs (four miles) lying between 
their village and Jerusalem,! and almost breathlessly 
appeared and announced that Jesus was indeed risen 
for He had not only appeared unto Simon, but 
also to them. 

While the apostles were listening to the strange- 
sounding things which were being told them by those 
who had arrived from Emmaus, behold Jesus stood 
in their midst, saying: “Peace be unto you’ (Luke 
24:36). So ill-prepared were the apostles for such 
a demonstration of Jesus that they were terrified, 
thinking Him to be a spirit. It was not until He 
had shown them His hands and His feet, that they 
believed Him to be the Christ who had been crucified. 
It was then that He demonstrated by his resur- 
rected body, which retained marks of the cruci- 
fixion, what He had previously taught them in word, 
and said: “These are my words which I spake unto 
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must 
needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of 
Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, concern- 
ing me. ... Thus it is written, that the Christ 
should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third 
day” (Luke 24:44, 46). Christ points out the fact 


*“Codex Vaticanus” gives the distance as sixty furlongs. 


142 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


that His suffering and triumph over death are pre- 
dicted in each one of the three divisions of the Old 
Testament—Law of Moses, Prophets and Psalms. 
As they meditated upon the Scriptures in the light 
of the demonstration Jesus gave them of Himself, 
their understandings were enlightened so that he 
comprehended the Scriptures. 

At this first appearance of Jesus in the barred 
chamber in Jerusalem, Thomas was not present. 
When it was reported to him, he declared that to 
see the nail-prints in the hands and the spear-print 
in the side would not convince him; that nothing less 
than putting his finger into the print of the hands 
and his hand into the wounded side would be suf- 
ficient evidence for him that Jesus had arisen (John 
20 :24-25). He demanded both to see and to feel, to 
employ the sense of touch, as well as the sense of 
sight, before believing. How materialistic! How 
human! 

Just a week later, on the second “first” day of the 
week after the resurrection of Jesus (note this be- 
ginning of the observance of the day now called the 
Christian Sabbath) the disciples were again as- 
sembled in the same Jerusalem chamber, with the’ 
door again barred. This time Thomas was present. 
There is no hint in the record whether the apostles 
did or did not anticipate that Jesus might appear in 
their midst again. But Jesus came, and, without rap 


A postles Still in the School of Transition 143 


or signal, stood in their midst. There was present 
one disciple—a learner, although called an apostle, 
who, being behind the rest of the class in “the 
course of demonstration’ because of his absence 
from the previous meeting, needed special attention. 
Jesus knew the thought of Thomas, as well as his 
need, and immediately called upon him, not rebuk- 
ing him with harsh or accusing words, but inviting 
him to do the very things which Thomas had de- 
clared only could convince him that Christ was risen. 
We are not told that Thomas did thrust his finger 
into the nail print nor his hand into the side of 
Jesus; but we are assured that Thomas was con- 
vinced, for he answered: “My Lord and my God” 
(John 20:28). Thus the transition was made in the 
thinking of the apostles, by which they were able 
to comprehend the Christ as living upon the resur- 
rection side of the grave. 

Let us follow, if possible, the impressions which 
these appearances likely made upon the apostles, 
as they assembled for other and later meetings, “I 
wonder whether Christ will meet with us tonight,” 
reasoned they. “He may appear in our midst at any 
time.” “He may be present now, only we cannot 
see Him.” How their hearts must have burned 
anew and afresh as they met in their accustomed 
place, realizing that Jesus might be present, unseen 


144 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


by them! The lesson had been learned by demon- 
stration, that the presence of Christ must be expected 
from then on, not as a bodily presence, but a 
spiritual presence; and Jesus could now give them 
His command to “Go and teach all nations’, promis- 
ing them: ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). | 

But the question will likely be asked: Why did 
Jesus forbid Mary to touch Him (John 20:17), 
and invite Thomas to do so (John 20:27)? The 
immediate reason which Jesus gave for forbidding 
Mary to touch Him, was that He had not yet as- 
cended unto the Father. Between the two occasions, 
which were a week apart, Christ may have gone into 
the presence of the Father, thus removing the cause 
involved in the prohibition to Mary. But may there 
not have been a difference in the motives prompting 
Mary and Thomas to touch Jesus, with which Jesus 
also reckoned? Mary desired to touch the new Jesus 
for the purpose of identifying Him with the old 
Jesus, while Thomas desired to see the marks of 
the old Jesus to identify Him as the new Jesus. 
Mary’s look was a backward one, while that of 
Thomas was a forward look. Christ differentiates 
even our motives, and rebukes or encourages ac- 
cordingly. 

One more lesson in “the Course of Demonstra- 


A postles Still in the School of Transition 145 


tion”. The forty-day period is drawing to a close. 
Jesus having counselled them what steps to take 
in preparation for the next course in the “School 
of Transition’, the “Course of Experience”, bid- 
ding them to tarry at Jerusalem until the coming 
of the Holy Spirit, led them to the Mount of Olives, 
where He was taken up, a cloud receiving Him out 
of their sight (Acts 1:9). With tear-dimmed eyes 
they watched Him until the last vision faded out of 
their sight. Turning their longing faces earthward, 
they beheld two men in white apparel (angels), who 
had come to direct the thinking of the apostles in 
relation to this demonstration on the part of Jesus. 
He had told them that He was going away. He had 
also taught them concerning His return. Note what 
these angelic instructors say: “Ye men of Galilee, 
why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus (not 
another, not the Holy Spirit), who was received up 
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
(not at death, not in some political event), as ye be- 
held him going into heaven (in a cloud).” 

If this last lesson in demonstration has any signi- 
ficance at all, it is this: The same Jesus who passed 
from the realm of the seen into the realm of the un- 
seen, shall again pass from the realm of the unseen 
into the realm of the seen. As a cloud received 
Him out of their sight, so a cloud will give Him 
back again. 


146 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


THE COURSE OF EXPERIENCE 


Much as was accomplished for the Apostles by 
Christ’s teachings and demonstrations, it is evident 
that they were not entirely clear concerning the 
spiritual nature of Christ’s kingdom. The very last | 
question which they propounded to Jesus was: ‘Dost 
thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 
(Acts 1:6). Even after His resurrection, His 
apostles seem to have entertained an idea that He 
might yet restore to Israel immediately an earthly 
kingdom. To an ordinary teacher such stupidity 
would have appeared incurable; but not so to the 
great master Teacher. He did not chide them for a 
hope of a restored kingdom in Israel; but knowing 
that the course of experience through which they 
were about to be taken would clarify their Messianic 
hope, He answered: “It is not for you to know the 
times or the seasons which the Father has set within 
his own authority.”’ There is a “time” and a “‘sea- 
son’ for the realisation of this hope, but Jesus 
turned their eyes in a different direction—the di- 
rection of a spiritual kingdom in which should lay 
their primary interest, and said: “But (notice the ad- 
versative conjunction, “‘but’”’) ye shall receive power 
when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye 
shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all 
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part 


A postles Still in the School of Transition 147 


of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus had declared that 
the end of the age and the crowning of the Son 
of Man should not take place until the Gospel had 
been preached to the whole world, as a witness unto 
all nations (Matt. 24:14, 37), and now He is pre- 
paring His apostles to enter upon the work of 
witnessing to the whole world, which He had de- 
clared to be a prerequisite to His second coming. 
He would have them busy in preparing the way for 
His coming, rather than to indulge them concern- 
ing “times” and “seasons.’’ Lange, in his Com- 
mentary on Acts, treating this question which the 
disciples asked Jesus concerning the kingdom, is quite 
right when he insists, that Jesus did not disapprove 
of the question asked, but rather confirmed their 
kingdom hope by declaring that “the Father had 
fixed the time’. He adds: “Jesus withheld from 
them and from us a knowledge only of the time, 
but did not leave the fact itself involved in doubt. 
The Old and New Testaments establish the truth 
that Israel may look forward to a future condition 
which is full of promise.” 

Pentecost was epoch-making in the lives of the 
apostles in a number of ways. It resulted in their 
unification and their sanctification. Besides, it did 
a great thing for them in the clarifying of their 
Messianic hope. It took this marvelous experience 


?“Commentary on Acts,” p. 14. 


148 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


to give them discernment concerning the spiritual and 
literal aspects of Christ’s kingdom. Peter, as the 
Pentecostal spokesman, could then see clearly that 
Christ’s sufferings and resurrection, even His ascen- 
sion unto heaven had been predicted (Acts 2: 31-36), 
and that Pentecost was a fulfilment of the prophecy 
of Joel (verses 16-18), which must precede the day 
of the Lord (verse 20). He also had a beautiful and 
clarified vision of Jesus which he expressed in these. 
words: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know 
assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and 
Christ, this Jesus, whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). 
Note the three names used in this verse: “‘Jesus, 
Christ’s human name; “Christ” (Greek, the Anoint- 
ed one), the name which signifies Redeemer; 
“Lord”, the name which expresses His Kingship. 

This is a remarkable verse too little understood and 
appreciated. Alexander Maclaren says of it: “The 
three rames are names of the same person, but they 
proclaim altogether different aspects of His work 
and His character. The name ‘Jesus’ is the name 
of the man, and brings to us a Brother; the name 
‘Christ’ is the name of office, and brings to us a 
Redeemer ; the name ‘Lord’ is the name of dignity, 
and brings to us a King.” Peter also recognised 
the fact that this Lord and Christ was to remain 
in the heavens, at the right hand of the Father, 
until the time should come for the triumphing over 


A postles Still in the School of Transition 149 


His enemies (Acts 2:34-35), until the Father who 
had sent Him forth the first time in humility should 
send Him forth a second time in glory, until He 
who was indeed the world’s Redeemer should also 
become the world’s King. 


CHAPTER XI 


A REVIVED AND CLARIFIED 
MESSIANIC HOPE 


The apostles who in the School of Christ had 
been so slow to comprehend the two distinct aspects 
of the Messianic hope, seem at last to have grasped 
them, at least in a practical manner; for, without 
a single exception, the eleven set themselves to the 
task of spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom, mak- 
ing Christ King in the hearts and lives of men 
wherever they might be found who were willing to 
crown Him, at the same time keeping a watchful eye 
for His return. 

Although the return of Christ was a favourite 
New Testament theme, stressed by every writer, and 
appears to have been the hope about which every- 
thing clustered, and the light in which everything 
was valued, they did not lag in their efforts to herald 
to the world His first coming. In enthusiastically 
carrying out Christ’s command to preach the Gos- 
pel to all the world, every apostle except one gave 
his life as a martyr. John alone was, in the pur- 


poses of God, and by His providences, spared to 
150 


A. Revived and Clarified Messianic Hope 151 


reach a ripe old age, and, according to tradition, 
died at a very old age at his home in Ephesus. 

The apostles are sometimes spoken of as having 
been in error, because they expected that Christ 
might return in their day, and He did not. Although 
they looked for Him in their day, and He did not 
return, and has not returned yet, they were not in 
error. They had been admonished frequently to 
watch and be in readiness for His return. In their 
attitude they were quite right, for it was the at- 
titude in which Christ desired that His disciples 
should live. Without discussing the merit or de- 
merit of any term which may now be employed 
concerning His coming, it may be asserted, that the 
attitude of these apostles is the attitude which every 
Christian should assume toward the coming of 
Christ—that of readiness. To the saint, death is 
not the great event, but the coming of Christ; for if 
he remains until Christ’s coming he shall be trans- 
lated. If he has died, he shall be resurrected. But 
the “change” issues in the same result—a glorified 
body, and takes place at the same time—at the 
comme of Christ (I. Cor. 15:52; I. Thess. 4: 
16-17). 

The eschatology (teachings concerning last 
things) of the later New Testament books centers 
around James (the brother of our Lord), Paul, Peter 
and John. God has used each one of these four 


152 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


writers to make a specific contribution to the sub- 
ject, which, supplementing the Prophets and the 
teachings of Jesus, forms a very comprehensive out- 
line. Of course God has wisely and purposely hid- 
den some things from us, as ‘Jesus plainly taught. 
We may formulate very dogmatically our ideas con- 
cerning the subject of eschatology, and when these 
things really come to pass we will doubtless have 
many causes for surprise; not because God’s outline © 
as indicated in His Word is incorrect, but because 
of our wrong interpretations of certain things. In 
their enthusiasm, some have gone too far in speculat- 
ing upon details where God has purposely given out- 
line, only. This is to be regretted. 

The former learners have now become teachers, 
and the New Testament writings, beginning at the 
Acts of the Apostles, contain their teachings. What 
we desire to do now, is to sit at the feet of these 
Apostles who have graduated in the School of the 
Master, having taken the course of ‘Instruction’, 
“Demonstration”, and “Experience”, and hear what 
they have to say on the subject of the Messianic 
Hope, which constituted so large a part of their 
curriculum. The two apostles, who of the twelve 
served as the inspired penmen of the New Testa- 
ment, are Peter and John, who, with James had 
constituted something of an “inner circle’ of dis- 
cipleship with the Master. From these two we shall 


A Revived and Clarified Messianic Hope 153 


hear; also from James, the brother of our Lord, 
who was bishop of Jerusalem, and from the great 
Apostle, Paul. If there is any progress in God’s 
revelation of His plan for the world, we have rea- 
son to expect that both the spiritual and literal as- 
pects of the Messianic programme which were intro- 
duced by the prophets and taught distinctly by 
Christ, will remain distinct and become more clarified 
in the writings of the inspired penmen of the New 
Testament. 


JEW AND GENTILE EPOCHS 


There was held in the city of Jerusalem about 
the year A.D. 50, the first Christian Church Con- 
ference of which we have any record (Acts 15). It 
was, in a number of respects, a very important con- 
ference. The purpose for which it was called was 
to determine the relation of Jew and Gentile in 
Christianity, and the discussion finally centered 
about the Messianic programme. Paul and Barnabas 
were there, who told of their remarkable experiences 
among the Gentiles. The Pharisees, who resented 
Gentile missionary effort, and were insistent that 
Gentiles become Jews in practice—be circumcised—, 
in order to have any association with the Jews, were 
also present. Peter, very enthusiastically and with 
great confidence, related how God had visited the 
Gentiles (citing the case of Cornelius, Acts 10), 


154 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


making no difference between Jew and Gentile, puri- 
fying the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, giving unto 
them the Holy Ghost, as He did the Jews at Pente- 
cost. John the Apostle was also present (Gal. 2:9). 

When the rest had finished their addresses, James, 
who was evidently the chairman and monitor of the 
conference, in a calm, firm and deliberate manner, 
gave the decision or “sentence” in the matter (Acts 
15:19-20). The preface of this verdict is a very re-. 
markable one, for it reveals that James had a mar- 
vellous grasp upon prophetic interpretation, and a re- 
markably clear vision of the relation of the Jew 
and Gentile in those two periods of God’s working 
among men which may be called Jew and Gentile 
epochs. His address is as follows: 


“Brethren, hearken unto me: Symeon hath re- 
hearsed how first God visited the Gentiles, to 
take out of them a people for his name. And to 
this agree the words of the prophets; as it is 
written, 

After these things I will return, 

And I will build again the tabernacle of David, 

which is fallen; 

And I will build again the ruins thereof, 

And I will set it up: 

That the residue of men may seek after the 

Lord, 
And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is 
called, , 
Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known 
from of old.” 
—Acts 15: 14-18. 


A Revived and Clarified Messianic Hope 155 


This is a somewhat free quotation from Amos 
Q2t hy 12: 

Lange’s Commentary on Acts, referring to the 
quotation made by James, says: “It was not without 
guidance of the Holy Ghost that James was con- 
ducted precisely to this passage.” + To this it is not 
difficult to assent, for these early church fathers were 
dealing with a most difficult and delicate problem, 
and the Holy Spirit would be unfaithful to His 
mission if He were not to give guidance to such 
sincere souls. Much was involved in the decision 
at which they were about to arrive, for they stood 
upon the threshold of a far-reaching programme— 
a programme of tremendous responsibility. 

The writer, in all humility, ventures an interpre- 
tation of this great passage. 

I. There is, in the Messianic programme, an 
epoch which is characteristically Gentile (Verse 
14). Such an age has already been referred 
to (Luke 21:24). 

2. Following such a Gentile epoch, there will 
be one distinctly Jewish. This statement is 
introduced with the phrase, “After these things” 
(Verse 16). 

3. During this distinctly Jewish period it is 
said, that God will return and rebuild the ruins 
of David, which kingdom had been reduced be- 


*Lange’s Commentary on Acts, p. 285. 


156 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


fore its final fall to a mere “tabernacle” or tent. 

4. The purpose of the Gentile epoch will be 
occupied in or utilised for the calling out— 
“looking out’ (Pulpit Commentary) a’ people 
for His name, from among the Gentile nations. 

5. The purpose of the Jewish epoch is 
stated: ‘‘That the residue (rest) of men may 
seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon 
whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who 
doeth all these things” Verse 17. 

6. That this programme constitutes no ex- 
periment upon the part of God, but that He 
knew from of old how He would: work out 
the difficult problems of human- redemption 
(Verse 18). 

7. That the prophets had visions of a 
glorious epoch for Israel which has not yet 
been fulfilled in Israel’s experience, and which 
must consequently be yet future (Verse I5). 
A careful study of the later prophets leads 
to this conclusion. The Pulpit Commentary 
says: “Nothing could be more germane to St. 
James’ argument than thus to show from the 
words of Amos that God’s present purpose of 
taking the Gentiles to be His people was, like 
all His other works, formed from the beginning 
of the world.” ? 


*“Pulpit Commentary on Acts, Vol. II, page 3. 


A Revived and Clarified Messianic Hope 157 


The Pulpit Commentary also says: “The writ- 
ings of the prophets were used by the apostles as a 
guide to the interpretation of the signs of the 
present, and for directions as to present duty.” ® 

Thus the Messianic programme was seen by these 
Christian leaders in a wonderful perspective, and the 
Messianic hope was clarified. Though many of the 
details must have been, of necessity, unknown to 
them, God’s plan for the ages lay about them, past, 
present, and future, and they caught the thrill of a 
wonderful inspiration as they found themselves 
standing in the midst of such a marvelous panorama. 
With this vision before them, they went forth to 
spend and to be spent in the interest of God’s pro- 
gramme for the world. They evidently expected 
that God would, in His own time, reéstablish the 
Davidic throne which was promised to his de- 
scendant, Christ (Luke 1 :32), but which He has not 
yet received. 

The responsibility of the evangelisation of the 
world rested primarily upon the Jews, since Chris- 
tianity was originally a movement within Judaism. 
The Jews cast aside this responsibility, and the 
Gentile Christians have shouldered it, and are carry- 
ing it out in some measure, at least. It is to be 
hoped that the day is coming when the Jews will 


*“Pulpit Commentary on Acts,” Vol. II, page 14. 


158 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


again assume the responsibility which they thrust 
aside, and become the flaming messengers of the 
Gospel. In the face of a world of seventeen hundred 
million of souls, almost a thousand million of whom 
have never heard of Christ; when, according to re- 
liable statistics, the population in heathen lands is 
increasing more rapidly than they are being evange- 
lised, and at a time when the non-Christian popula- 
tion of the United States, one of the most Christian » 
nations of the world, is increasing each year pro- 
portionately, the ushering in of a Jewish epoch, 
when the labours of the Gentile missionary force 
would be augmented by a mighty army of Jewish 
heralds of the Gospel of Christ, should be hailed 
with great joy. Apart from such an epoch of mis- 
sionary effort, the missionary prospects of the world 
seem dark, 


CHaAPTerR XIT 


OTHER STAGES IN THE 
MESSIANIC PROGRAMME 


The popular phrase, ‘The Return of Christ’, is 
a comprehensive one, and, as generally used, includes 
not only one event, but various events in the future 
Messianic programme. There is not a perfect agree- 
ment among Christians as to the various events in- 
cluded in the term, much less is there full accord 
as to the details of the events. Unwarranted specu- 
lations, which have been freely indulged in by certain 
interpreters of prophecy, have separated many good 
people unnecessarily, and brought the great theme of 
Christ’s second coming into reproach. But even 
such mistakes do not disprove the fact. 

It appears that our teaching has been frag- 
mentary upon this great subject. One has grasped 
some aspect of the truth and then emphasised it 
out of all proportion to the rest of the truth, while 
others have gone to quite an opposite extreme. It 
has not been the purpose of this treatise to enter 
into minute examinations or discussions of any one 


aspect of the Messianic Hope, but to present as 
159 


160 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


nearly as possible a symmetrically-proportioned and 
Biblical outline of this “Hope’, showing how it is 
the great theme of the Bible, to which everything 
else contributes. All of our religious thinking, 
whether past, present or future, should be organised 
around an intelligent Messianic programme. 

It is only by a careful study of the Bible as a 
whole that the various stages of the Messianic pro- 
gramme stand out distinctly. Even in the New 
Testament such expressions as, the “appearing”, the 
“coming” or the “day of the Lord”, sometimes 
gather about them all of the events of eschatology 
without differentiating one from the other. 


HIS APPEARING 


One of the events in the future Messianic pro- 
gramme is expressed by the word “appearing” 
(Greek, epiphaneia). This term is used to express 
the event with which are connected the following: 

1. The ‘blessed hope’ of the Church, the 
attitude of the Church in the expectancy of 
Christ’s return (Titus 2:13). 

2. The “bringing” to nought the “lawless 
one” who is back of the world’s programme of 
wickedness (the anti-Christ) at Christ’s “mani- 
festation” (Epiphaneia) (II. Thess. 2:8). 

3. It is the time until which saints are ex- 
horted to be faithful (I. Tim. 6:14). 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 161 


While the theme of the return of Christ is fre- 
quently referred to in the Pauline Epistles, it is in 
the Thessalonian letters that the doctrine is more 
fully outlined. It would seem that the aspect as out- 
lined in these epistles is that of the “appearing”’ 
of Christ, at which time the living saints are to be 
translated and those who have died are to be res- 
urrected, and together they are to be caught up to 
meet the Lord in the air, and to be with Him from 
that time on, wherever He may be. 

Paul’s teaching concerning the “Appearing” of 
Christ in the First Thessalonian letter may be out- 
lined as follows: 

1. Christ will appear in the clouds (4:17). 

2. The souls of the saints who have died, 
Christ will bring with Him (4:14). 

3. His appearing will ‘be attended by a 
shout, the sound of a trumpet and the voice of 
an archangel (4: 16). 

4. The bodies of the dead saints shall be 
resurrected (4:16). 

5. The living saints shall be translated 
(4:17). 

6. The righteous dead are to be translated 
immediately before the living saints are trans- 
lated (4: 16). 

7. The righteous ones (all) are to be caught 


162 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 
up to meet their Lord, ever to be with Him 
(4:17). 

8. The doctrine of the coming of Christ is 
to be a comfort against anxiety and worry, 
which might arise concerning eschatological 
questions which we cannot answer (4:18). 

g. It will occur at a time when the world is 
saying “peace and safety” (peace and prepared- 
ness) (5:2). | 
10. His appearing will not be a surprise to a 

church ever watchful for His return (5: 3). 


It is quite fair to say, that the contribution which 
God has used Paul to make is relative to the “ap- 
pearing’ of Christ, as contrasted with any subse- 
quent stages, as Paul does not here continue the out- 
line of later events, but closes it by saying: “And 
so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

There are those who insist that Paul was the vic- 
tim of an “apocalyptic delusion of his day,” when he 
used the pronoun in the first person, plural, “we,” in 
speaking of those who might be living at the return 
of Christ in Chapter 4, verse 17. This, it is argued, 
proves that Paul expected Christ to come in his day, 
which He did not; hence Paul laboured under a de- 
lusion. But had he used the third personal pronoun, 
“those” or “they,’’ it is likely that his first readers, 
the Thessalonian Christians, would have read out of 
the epistle the evidence that Christ was not coming 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 168 


in Paul’s day. Keeping in mind then the much 
emphasised necessity of always being ready to meet 
the Lord, it was the perfectly natural and the only 
proper thing for him to do—to speak of Christ’s re- 
turn as at least possible at any time. It is becoming 
more and more apparent, however, that the Messianic 
programme belonging to the Holy Spirit’s dispensa- 
tion, though partially fulfilled in Paul’s day, was to 
be more fully carried out before Christ’s return, and 
that until the programme is executed in keeping with 
God’s plan, Christ will not return. 

Again, there are those who hold that Paul’s first 
Thessalonian letter was so faulty that he found it 
necessary to write another to correct the former one. 
It is true that Paul wrote a second epistle, but not to 
correct the former one. He wrote to correct a wrong 
interpretation which the Thessalonians had placed 
upon the first epistle. Some of them had evidently 
concluded that, if the Lord might come at any time, 
there was no need to labour, and had quit their jobs. 
Paul sent them a stern rebuke, declaring that he who 
would not work should not eat. But this was no new 
message from him, for he says: “When we were 
with you, this we commanded you” (II. Thess. 
3:10). 

The fact that the Thessalonians misinterpreted 
Paul’s first letter to them about Christ’s coming, 
and that he found it necessary to write a second to 


164 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


set them right, does not argue against a. correct 
Messianism on the part of Paul. On the contrary, 
it should be interpreted as an argument in favour of 
a correct Pauline Messianism. 

The church of Christ should profit by E Paul’s re- 
buke to the Thessalonians, and not allow such a 
blunder to be repeated. Christ wants to find every 
saint busily engaged in his legitimate occupation, 
profession or calling, when He returns. | 

While the distinct contribution which God used 
Paul to make to the teaching concerning the Mes- 
sianic programme was, as is indicated above, there 
is evidence that he kept the spiritual (invisible) and 
literal (or visible) quite distinct in his heart and 
mind, as is evidenced by the following considerations. 

Paul’s definition of the kingdom of God as it ex- 
isted in a spiritual sense in the world was: “For 
the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). This reminds us at once of 
the teaching of Jesus, when he turned the attention 
of His disciples away from material things which 
were of mere secondary importance, such as food 
and raiment, and said: “But seek ye first his king- 
dom, and his righteousness; and all these things 
shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). 

Paul’s ministerial charge to Timothy had in it, as 
a supreme inspiration, an admonition to be found 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 165 


faithful at the appearing of Christ: “I charge 
thee . . . that thou keep the commandment without 
spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our 
Lord Jesus Christ: which in its own times (the 
times kept from the apostles, but known only to 
the Father, Acts 1:7) he shall show, who is the 
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and 
Lord of lords’ (I. Tim. 6: 13-15). Dummelow’s 
commentary is quite correct in saying that, “These 
words do not necessarily indicate a belief on St. 
Paul’s part that the coming of the Lord would be 
in Timothy’s lifetime. It might be, and then Tim- 
othy would have kept his deposit to the end if he 
were faithful; it might be later, and then he would 
have done his part in keeping it in his generation.” 3 

Paul also interpreted the sacrament instituted by 
Christ as a prophecy of His return. Jesus said, when 
He instituted it: “This do in remembrance of me.” 
“T shall not eat it . . . I will not drink from hence- 
forth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of 
God shall come.” (Luke 22:16-19.) Matthew’s ac- 
count reads: “Take, eat; this is my body... 
Drink ye all of it . . . I say unto you, I shall not 
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that 
day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s 
kingdom.” (Matt. 26: 26-29.) In teaching concern- 
ing the sacrament Paul quotes the words of Jesus, 


*“One Volume Commentary,” page 1000. 


166 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


and then adds, by way of interpretation: “For as 
often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye 
proclaim the Lord’s death till He come’ (I, Cor. 
TLR OW, | 

Paul recognised Christ as still his King and the 
King of other Christians even after He had ascended 
to heaven, for he says: “Our citizenship (our seat 
of government) is in heaven; whence also we wait 
for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:19). 
Christ is represented as having been crowned in 
the life of His people as King; when He ascended 
to heaven. to have carried with Him their loyalty 
as His subjects, and when He returns He will be 
hailed as their Saviour from the wickedness of this 
evil age, and as Lord (or King) in visible reality. 
This is a beautiful illustration of the fact that 
Christ’s kingdom begins in the hearts and lives of 
His people here and now, and that, despite any of 
the intervening events, the relationship between Him- 
self and His people—King and subjects—is never 
severed. 

Regardless of what critics may say about Paul’s 
belief in the personal return of Christ, it is evident 
that this subject remained a supreme one in his mind 
until the close of life, and in the moment when he 
stood upon the threshold of eternity. If his belief 
in the personal return of Christ was an “apocalyptic 
delusion,’ as we are-told, he held fast to it until 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 167 


the end; for when Nero’s beheading block was just 
beyond the curtain, and he was about to be led to it, 
he sent back to the world his final testimony: “For 
I am already being offered, and the time of my 
departure is come. I have fought the good fight, 
I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but 
also to all them that have loved His appearing” 
(II. Tim. 4: 6-8). 


THE GOLDEN AGE 


Since the Messianic programme contemplates the 
redemption of the human race from sin and all its 
consequences, in so far as it is not hindered by an 
arbitrary use of human will, since it also includes a 
removal of sin’s blight or curse from the earth, it is 
evident that there is yet something to follow the 
“appearing” of Christ which has been graphically 
portrayed by Paul. 

Further, there are specific statements and promises 
which have been made by God, through prophets, 
angels and even Christ, Himself, which remain yet 
to be fulfilled after the event of His appearing for 
the saints which is sometimes called the “Rapture,” 
which may be briefly summarised: 


168 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


1. The word spoken by’ Amos, to which 
other prophets agree, that, after the Gentile 
age, God (evidently in the person of Christ) 
will return and set up again the tabernacle of 
David and rebuild the ruins, thereof (Amos, 
Q: II-I2). 

2. The promise which the archangel Gabriel 
made to Mary, that her divinely-begotten son 
should be given the throne of His father, 
David, and that He should occupy it forever. 
This promise has not been fulfilled, as yet, but 
may be realised in the future golden age. 

3. The assurance which Jesus gave to His 
apostles, that, as a reward for forsaking all, 
some day—“‘in the regeneration’ —they should 
share with Him the rule of Israel (Matt. 


19: 28). 
Other references might be given, but these are 

representative. 
Now concerning the probability of a “Golden 


Age: 

Between the present state of the affairs of the 
world and the eternal state, between a world dom- 
inated by sin and a world from which every vestige 
or scar of sin has been removed, lies a great distance. 
A bound or leap from one state to the other would 
be a tremendous one. God could accomplish it so 
far as possibility is concerned; but having observed 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 169 


God in His carrying out a progressive Messianic 
programme, it is not at all improbable that some 
step in this programme should be found to lie be- 
tween the present and the eternal state. 

Despite the fact that some interpreters have at- 
tempted to spiritualise the prophetic utterance con- 
cerning Israel, the angel’s promise to Mary and 
Christ’s promise to His apostles, the fact still remains 
that, if language means anything, if these prophets 
and apostles and even Mary were not victims of 
rash and unrealisable promises, there is yet a very 
distinct stage in the earthly Messianic programme. 

Prof. Chas. R. Erdman, of Princeton, said re- 
cently, in defending the doctrine of the personal 
return of Christ: “If it were a question of proba- 
bility, it is fully as probable that Christ will come 
a second time, as it was that He would come the 
first time.’’ Even more so it would seem, if there 
could be any difference, for it would require less of 
a grasp of the intellect to comprehend His coming 
a second time in the clouds of heaven, after He 
had been on earth and having promised to return 
ascended into heaven, than to grasp the fact of His 
coming a first time, making His appearance in the 
form of a little child. Just so, it is no less probable 
that God will use Israel in a very special way, in 
the age that is coming and which lies between this 
and the eternal state, to bring about a marked stage 


170 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


of progress in the completion of the Messianic pro- 
gramme, than that He should have used Israel, as a 
nation, for the conservation of a monotheistic faith 
when the world had become idolatrous and pagan, 
and to give birth to the Christ, thus inaugurating, 
in the fullest sense, the Messianic programme at 
first. It is no more improbable that God will be 
faithful in fulfilling the materialistic aspect of the 
Messianic programme, than that He should fulfil 
the spiritual aspect. 

Still more, the prophets predicted a golden age, 
when the recognised law would be the word of 
Jehovah, proceeding from Jerusalem; when God 
would judge between the nations; when weapons of 
warfare would be transformed into implements for 
peaceful industry; when nations would cease from 
war; when the ravenous beasts which have become 
“infected by man’s sin” (George Adam Smith), 
would become harmless both to each other and to 
man; when a person dying at the age of a hundred 
years would be considered a mere child, etc. (Isa. 
2:3, 4; 11:6-9). This age is yet in the future, and 
must represent a period as yet unknown to history. 
It will not be the perfect state, for people will still 
die, but an age when a great stride will have been 
made in the direction of a perfect state. 

It was the Apostle John who was used of God to 
give us a panoramic view of this stage in the Mes- 


Other S tages in the Messianic Programme 171 


sianic programme. The description as it was made 
to him and is handed down to us is recorded in 
Revelation, chapters nineteen and twenty. A va- 
riety of interpretations, some of which are very 
fanciful indeed, have been given to these chapters. 
While it would be unwise to attempt any dogmatic 
or rigid interpretation of the details, the outline of 
the events are quite easily comprehended. Chapter 
nineteen shows the events leading up to this long 
looked-for age as follows: 

1. The actual return of Christ, amidst the 
multitudinous shouts like mighty thunderings 
saying: “Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, 
the Almighty reigneth” (Verses 1-6). 

2. Great rejoicing because the bride, the 
Lamb’s wife, hath made herself ready (Verses 
6-10). 

3. The armies of heaven coming with Him 
(Verses 11-14). These “armies” no doubt 
refer to the saints who were caught up with 
Christ, as recorded in I. Thess. 4:17, for they 
appear clothed in “fine linen, bright and pure,” 
and this is the exact description of the bride, 
the Lamb’s wife, in verse 8, with the explana- 
tory note added that, “fine linen is the right- 
eous acts of the saints.” 

4. Judgment upon the enemies of Christ 
(Verses 15-21). 


172 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


The following is an analysis of the twentieth 
chapter: 

1. The period is spoken of as a thousand 
years (a millennium), during which Christ 
shall reign (Verse 6). 

2. Satan is to be bound by the angel at the 
beginning of this period (Verses 1, 2). 

3. There are to be thrones which will be 
occupied by certain ones who have been mar- 
tyred, in a joint reign with Christ (Verse 4). 

4. Those who share in this glorious period 
represent the “first resurrection,’ who are pro- 
nounced “blessed and holy,’ and who are called 
priests of Christ and of God (Verse 6). 

5. Over these the “second death” (the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone, Rev. 
21:8) hath no power (Verse 6). 

6. The rest of the dead shall not be resur- 
rected until these thousand years have ended 
(Verse 5). 

7. Satan is to be loosed at the close of the 
period, to be permitted to test the work of God 
which was wrought while his operations were 
hindered (Verses 7-9). 

8. Satan will be defeated and cast into the 
lake of fire forever (Verse I0). 

g. At the close of the period will occur the 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 173 


second resurrection and the judgment (Verses 
II-15). 

The duration of this period is declared to be “a 
thousand years.” The language, it is argued, may 
express merely an indefinite period, and this may be 
true, as it is prophetic language; but since such a 
conclusion would afford us no more definite informa- 
tion, it appears more advisable to use the Scripture 
term, a thousand years, or its equivalent, the millen- 
nium (Latin), to designate it. 

It should be noted that this period, so fully de- 
scribed, provides a place in the Messianic pro- 
gramme for a personal, visible reign of Christ upon 
earth. It also anticipates a fulfilment of the pro- 
phetic utterances concerning a peculiar ministry of 
Israel to the nations of the world. It gives 
realisation to the Angelic promise to Mary that Jesus 
should occupy the throne of David and also to the 
promise which Christ made to His twelve apostles. 
It makes historically possible the “Golden Age” 
foreseen by Isaiah—a period which can be neither 
the present nor the eternal state, but which lies be- 
tween these two states, bearing resemblances of each. 

Objections are raised against basing so important 
a conclusion as this upon a single passage of Scrip- 
ture, found in such a book as Revelation and sur- 
rounded by such highly figurative and apocalyptical 
language. While the term “thousand years” is 


174 Progresstve Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


used only in this instance, the same thing is de- 
scribed in the Old Testament in less minutiz. The 
“Little Apocalypse” in Isa. 24: 21-23 is no doubt an 
Old Testament prophetic vision of the same stage 
of the Messianic programme which John was given 
to describe in greater detail. The last nine chapters 
of Ezekiel contain a prophetic description of a “New 
Theocracy,’ which will come in God’s own time. 
Just as other visions of truth were made clearer in 
the illumination of God’s perfect revelation, Jesus 
Christ, so this aspect of the Messianic programme 
is made to stand out in clearer detail. Isaiah spoke. 
of this event as occurring “in that day”: John speaks 
of it as a “thousand years.”’ Since with the Lord 
one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand 
years is as one day (II. Peter 3:8), there is perfect 
harmony in the representations of this period by 
Isaiah and John. 


TRIBULATION AND JUDGMENT 


The terms “tribulation” and “judgment” are very 
closely related, though absolutely distinct. Tribula- 
tion is inflicted by man; judgment is sent by God. 
While tribulation is man inflicted, God may permit 
it to constitute a part of His judgment. The ele- 
ment of retribution characterises both of them. 
Retribution is exactly the opposite of reward. 
When both good and evil exist, and we find the good 


Other Stages in the Messianic Prograinme 175 


being rewarded, we may most reasonably expect 
that evil is suffering retribution. Dr. Albert C. 
Knudson, in one of the most recent theological 
works, entitled: “The Religious Teaching of the Old 
Testament,” quotes Prof. Bowne assaying: “One 
thing on which the moral nature is categorical and 
unyielding is that moral good and moral evil shall 
not be treated alike. It would be the overthrow of 
the moral universe to hold that moral evil could ever 
be ignored as indifferent or treated as if it were 
good.” He further adds: “The ill desert of the 
evil will is a fundamental moral axiom.” ? 

In keeping with this fundamental law of the moral 
universe, which is simply another way of expressing 
God’s approval of right and disapproval of evil, this 

Messianic programme progresses. 

When the saints are caught up with Christ to 
enjoy His presence and begin to reap the reward 
for their good, sinners may expect that the retribu- 
tion for evil has begun. This reaping begins in 
what may be called tribulation, and continues in some 
form or another until it closes in what is nothing 
less than judgment. 

Tribulation. Christ speaks of a great tribulation 
the like of which never was since the world began, 
and never will be (Matt. 24:21). Primarily this 
referred to the awful days preceding the destruction 

*“The Religious Teaching of the Old Testament,” p. 267. 


176 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


of Jerusalem; but that, in a second reference, it 
refers to something greater and farther reaching 
it is quite evident. Awful as were the days during 
the siege of Titus in A.D. 70, when people were 
reduced by hunger to the eating of rats and even 
refuse, and Jerusalem was made a living grave, 
the events hardly fulfil such a prophecy completely. 
Since these prophetic words, in Matt. 24th chapter 
and Luke the 21st chapter, in a double reference, also 
refer to the coming of Christ, this particular part 
of the prophecy may easily refer to a tribulation 
which centers about the coming of Christ. 

In the book of Revelation, fifteen chapters (4-18), 
preceding the chapters which deal with the return 
of Christ to the earth and the millennial reign, deal 
with judgments of one kind or other. Dr. Geo. L. 
Robinson, although not concurring in the pre- 
millennarian idea, in his syllabus on Revelation, 
speaks of chapters 4-16 as the “Book of Doom.” 
Chapters seventeen and eighteen might also be in- 
cluded, as they are also devoted to “‘doom’’—the 
doom of Babylon. Dr. Robinson continues the de- 
scription of the judgments picturesquely as follows: 
“Beginning with warnings, John soon passes to 
judgments which, in graduated crescendo, ever be- 
come more and more severe. These warnings and 
judgments are presented under the three forms of 
“seals” which are broken, “trumpets” which are 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 177 


sounded, and ‘“‘bowls’” of divine wrath which are 
poured out.” 3 

The reader must be referred to commentaries and 
works which deal minutely with the book of Revela- 
tion for a fuller treatment of the chapters, as a mere 
outline can be given here. 

1. An introductory vision, “teaching that be- 
hind all human history there is a God in 
Christ’—the ‘“Lamb’—‘“lion” (Chapters 4 
and 5). 

2. The breaking of the seven seals (Chap. 
6:1-8:5). 

3. The seven trumpet blasts (Chap. 8: 6- 
iM US 

4. The seven bowls of God’s accumulated 
wrath (Chaps. 15 and 16). 

5. The Doom of Rome (Chaps. 17 and 
18). 

But God’s judgments have in them a mixture of 
mercy. His picture has in it some lights even 
though the shadows are deep. Interspersed in this 
book of “doom,” amidst the warnings, woes and 
judgments, there are parenthetical visions which in- 
dicate what will be occurring during these awful 
days. 

I. The vision of the secured ones (Chap. 7). 
This company is composed of 144,000 Jews, 


* Robinson, “Syllabus on Revelation.” 


178 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


who have seals upon their foreheads, and, to- 
gether with an innumerable company of Gentile 
saints from all the nations, and kindreds, and 
people and tongues, are made secure from the 
impending judgments. They are represented 
as, the ones coming out of the great tribulation 
who washed their robes, and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb (Verse 14). They 
are “tribulation saints.” This vision prefaces 
the breaking of the seventh “‘seal.”’ 

2. The vision of the “little book” and the 
“two witnesses” (Chaps. 10: 1-11:14). The 
little book possibly symbolises the “faithful tes- 
timony” of the tribulation saints. (See 10: II.) 
The treatment of the “two witnesses,’’ who- 
ever they may be, shows that human depravity 
has now reached such a hopeless stage that 
even further warnings are useless.. This vision 
prefaces the sounding of the seventh “trumpet.” 

3. The vision of the mighty struggle be- 
tween the contending forces of good and evil, 
culminating in the “New theocracy” (Chaps. 
12-14). The anti-Christ symbolised by a beast 
is crushed, and the throne of God is established 
by the Lamb upon Mt. Zion, which may be the 
seat of the miilennial reign on earth. 

This vision prefaces the pouring out of the seven 
“bowls.” 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 179 


Relative to the period covered by these warnings, 
woes and judgments, there are diversities of opin- 
ions. After the blowing of the sixth trumpet, which 
belongs to the second series of “doom” or ‘“‘woes,” 
it is said that it would be given to God’s witnesses 

to testify twelve hundred and sixty days, which 
would be forty-two months, or three and one-half 
years (11:3). As the period of Daniel’s last week 
(a prophetic week of years) is predicted as a pe- 
riod of “abominations that make desolate.” (Dan. 
9 :25-27), it would appear that approximately seven 
years would be occupied by these tribulation events. 
This seems to correspond, because the “woes” are 
practically half finished when the events are de- 
scribed as continuing three and a half more years. 

Before leaving this apocalyptic description of the 
tribulation period, mention should be made of the 
fact that in Chapter 6, of Revelation, is recorded 
in brief the order of events from the “rapture” to 
the return of Christ to reign. The disturbances in 
nature, such as Christ depicted—the darkening of 
the sun and moon, the falling of the stars and the 
shaking of the heavens (Matt. 24:29), are spoken 
of as occurring after the opening of the sixth seal 
(Rev. 6: 12-17). These words of Christ are then 
to be fulfilled at the time of His coming to reign. 
The succeeding chapters of Revelation, chapters 


180 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


7-19, record the fuller details of the judgments of 
God preceding the millennium. 

The Judgment Proper. While the element of 
judgment has been present in the woes and tribula- 
tions, the judgment proper is reserved until the close 
of the millennial period. It is graphically described 
in Rev. 20:1I-15, as occurring at the close of the 
millennial period. 

An analysis of the judgment description discloses 
the following events in their order: | 

1. The appearing of the “great white 
throne” with its occupant (Verse 11). 

2. The resurrection of the ae 
dead (Verse 13). 

3. The assembling of the universe before 
the throne (Verse I3a). 

4. The opening of the heavenly records 
(Verse 12). 

5. Judgment according to the books (Verse 
12b). 

6. Death and hell (hades—the under: 
world), together with those whose names were 
not found in the ‘book of life,’ cast into the 
lake of fire (Verses 14 and 15). 

Again we have the authority of Christ for this 
event in the Messianic programme. He describes the 
same event in Matt. 25: 31-46. He, Himself, is the 
Judge who shall sit upon the throne. Those whose 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 181 


names are found written in the “book of life’ have 
entered into spiritual relationship with Him in ad- 
vance of the judgment, and continue in His presence, 
enjoying life forevermore. Those whose names are 
not in the book of life must suffer the “second 
death,” which is the final separation from the pos- 
sibility or source of eternal life. 


ALL THINGS NEW 


When God made the heavens and earth they stood 
at the head of the list of items in the creative pro- 
gramme. In their remaking, they stand at the close 
of the Messianic programme. In creation God 
began with the material world, closing with man. 
In redemption he begins with man and closes with 
the material world. 

The Process. Whatever Scriptural knowledge we 
may have of the process by which God is going to 
bring about a new heaven and a new earth, must be 
obtained from another New Testament writer, the 
Apostle Peter. Why John was led to pass by the 
subject of the process in this part of the Messianic 
programme, and why Peter was inspired to write 
upon it cannot be stated; but it matters not. God 
has used, even in Old Testament times, a certain 
prophet to emphasise one aspect of truth, while He 
has used another to emphasise another (Amos, 


182 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


righteousness ; Hosea, love, etc.), and the practice is 
continued in the New Testament. 

The description of this re-creating process in rela- 
tion to the material world is found in II. Peter 
3: 9-14, and when analysed results in the following: 

1. It will occur in the “day of the Lord.” 
This term covers the whole series of eschato- 
logical events, and may not refer so much to 
duration as order (Verse 9). 

2. The elements shall be on fire and melt 
with great heat, and be “dissolved” (Verse 12). 

3. Emerging in the place of the old heavens 
(not heaven the abode of God, but the heavens 
around about the earth) and the old earth, shall 
come forth a “new heaven and new earth” 
(Verse 13b). 

4. The new heaven and new earth shall be 
the dwelling place of righteousness (Verse 13c). 

5. The new heaven and new earth is ac- 
cording to God’s promise (Verse 13a). 
Doubtless reference is here made to Isa. 65:17; 
66: 22, where the promise is made. 

It may be urged, that this is highly figurative 
language and must not be interpreted literally. The 
only answer to this might be, that we are not inter- 
ested in “processes” so much as results; but we 
have no other suggestion as to process, and know 
of no reasons why God may not use the process 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 183 


described in bringing about these results. While 
there are questions all along the course of events 
in the Messianic programme which we cannot an- 
swer, this event appears reasonably necessary and 
probable ; and to ascertain the final and only authori- 
tative word on the subject, we are obliged to come 
back to the inspired penman. 

The Results. “And I saw a new heaven and a 
new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth 
are passed away: and the sea is no more’ (Rev. 
21:1). The final event in the Messianic programme 
has been reached, and the perfect and eternal state 
begins. The purpose toward which every preceding 
event has been aimed has been realised. The re- 
demption of man’s soul was accomplished during 
his life by the operations of Divine grace; his body 
has been redeemed in the resurrection, and his home 
has eventually been redeemed in the recreation of 
the new heaven and new earth. 

In the last two chapters of Revelation we have 
pictured conditions as they will exist in the eternal 
state. The Messianic programme is prophetically 
finished. He who has promised the “new heavens 
and new earth” has been faithful: “They are come 
to pass” (21:5-6). He is not only the “Alpha’— 
the beginning: He is also “Omega’”’—the end. Then 
in the midst of the descriptions of the eternal state, 
a challenge is heralded to such as desire a part in 


184 Progressive Unfolding of Messianic Hope 


the completed Messianic programme: “I will give 
unto him that is athirst of the fountain of water 
of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit 
these things; and I will be his God, and he shall 
be my son’ (Rev. 20:6-7). Also warning is 
given: “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and 
abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and 
sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, their part shall 
be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; 
which is the second death” (21:8). ) 

The Messianic programme, potent and perfect as 
it is, contains no redemption for such as persist in 
impenitence. The unjust remain unjust, just as the 
holy remain holy (22:11). Quoting another: 
“Eternal punishment is not so much an arbitrary 
law, as a result necessarily following in the very 
nature of things as the fruit results from the bud.” 

The state of affairs as described in the new earth 
may be summarised as follows: 

1. There is to be a close relation between 
God and man (21: 2-3). 
2. There shall be no more “death,” “sor- 

row,” “crying” nor “pain” (21:4). 

3. <All tears shall be forever wiped away 
(21:4). 

4. The glory of the nations shall be brought 
into its holy city, the New Jerusalem (21: 26), 


Other Stages in the Messianic Programme 185 


5. Nothing which defiles shall ever enter it 
(217127): 

It is interesting to note the relation of the state 
depicted in the twenty-first and twenty-second chap- 
ters of Revelation to the Edenic State. 

1. The Edenic state was lost because of 
sin; this one is to be attained because of 


holiness. 
2. The Edenic world gave place to “sor- 
row”; this is one in which all tears are to be 


wiped from men’s eyes. 

3. There the entrance was guarded by cheru- 
bim and flaming sword: here the gates are not 
shut, neither by day nor night. 

4. There man was driven from the tree of 
life, and we do not see it again until now. 
Here it is found growing alongside of the river 
of life, and its fruits accessible to man. 

It is significant that, after tracing the course of 
events of the Messianic programme, the New Testa- 
ment closes with a gracious invitation, and a prayer 
for, and promise of, the Lord’s return: 


“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And 
he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that 
heareth, let him come: he that will, let him take 
the water of life freely. ... He who testifieth 
these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: 
come, Lord Jesus.” 

—Rev. 22: 17-20. 


186 Progressive Unfolding of M essianic Hope 


A beautiful paragraph is found in Dr. Sampey’s 
volume entitled, “Syllabus for Old Testament 
Study,” which is here quoted as a final and befitting 
word. : 


“The trickling stream of promise, which took 
its rise in Eden on the day when sin first broke 
the harmony between God and man, gradually 
grew in depth and volume with the passing cen- 
turies until it became a mighty river of blessing, 
a glorious gospel of hope that cheered the faithful 
in earlier ages. To us the same great truths are 
made clearer and surer by the advent of the 
Messiah and His perfect life, His sublime death, 
and His glorious resurrection. Many kings and 
righteous men longed to see the wonders of His 
reign, and died in hope. We, too, are ‘prisoners 
of hope’—He will come again!” * 


2“Syllabus for Old Testament Study,” p. 292. 


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